Make human rights work - UN
2007-12-10 21:24
Geneva - The United Nations chief and the organisation's top human rights official called on Monday for all countries to help make the Universal Declaration of Human Rights "an integral part of everyone's life".
In a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the signing of the declaration in 1948, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the next 12 months would see all UN bodies taking part in a campaign "to promote the declaration's ideals and principles of justice and equality for everyone".
"The declaration remains as relevant today as it did on the day it was adopted," said Ban in a video message to the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva.
"But the fundamental freedoms enshrined in it are still not a reality for everyone. Too often, governments lack the political will to implement international norms they have willingly accepted."
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, echoed Ban's call and said the declaration's "articulation of what individuals are entitled to solely by virtue of their humanity represents an unassailable legacy".
'Must strive for equilibrium'
Arbour said the declaration was not a product of Western cultural values, but a "composite synthesis" of views derived from many backgrounds, regions and legal traditions.
"The solidarity and balance that the world mustered 60 years ago represent an equilibrium for which we should never cease to strive, irrespective of how our approaches may vary today or in the future," she added.
"There is no reason to believe that today we have less to share and no common vision on which to rely. Universal principles do not suffocate pluralism and difference," said Arbour.
Indeed, she said, "I can't accept there's any culture, religion or tradition that should supersede" the fundamental principle that all human beings are born equal.
Governments 'have a duty'
Rights groups worldwide have used Monday's celebrations as a means to highlight what they allege are continuing human-rights abuses from Russia to Sri Lanka to Cambodia.
Arbour said that all governments had a duty to ensure they guaranteed both the security and the human rights of all those under their jurisdiction, competence and control.
"We have an equal appetite for safety and for freedom. We are not prepared to surrender all our freedom for the sake of enhancing absolutely our security," she said.