1998 is Human Rights Year

By Klenn Salde B. Tinapay

This year marks the worldwide observance of the Human Rights year in recognition of the 50^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

“All Human Rights for All,” so goes the anniversary’s theme which aims to underscore the universality, indivisibility and interdependence of all human rights – civil, political, economic, social and cultural.

The UDHR was produced in 1946 by the UN Commission on Human Rights, chaired then by human rights activist Eleanor Roosevelt, widow of former US President Franklin Roosevelt.

It was adopted on December 10, 1948 in Paris by the UN General Assembly for the international promotion and protection of human rights.

As defined in UDHR, all persons are of equal worth and dignity and all have the right to the basic necessities of life, to self-determination, cultural identity, and minority distinction and to religious expression and practice.

Although it does not have the binding of a treaty, it has acquired universal acceptability, including inclusion in the basic laws and constitutions of many countries.

Leah Levin, in her book Human Rights: Questions and Answers, emphasizes that “human beings are born equal in dignity and rights. These are moral claims which are inalienable and inherent in all human individuals by virtue of their humanity alone.

She says, “these claims are articulated and formulated in what we today call human rights. The basis of these legal rights is the consent of the governed, that is the consent of the subjects of the rights.”

(This news article appeared in The Samar Reporter dated December 17-23, 1998 Vol. XXI, No. 51)