Welcome to my blog Human Rights – Better Life!
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“But, why another blog about human rights?” you may ask. “There are so many already, and so much talk about human rights in the world! What else can be said?”- “Yes, indeed”, I willingly admit, “you are perfectly right, and yet … Please, give me two minutes to explain myself!”​
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While the majority of human beings around the world do much good, sometimes with great danger to their own safety, others are less gentle. Our imperfect human nature has provided us with a penchant for power and control, which causes hardship and suffering for many people. This imperfect state of affairs is likely to continue, because history teaches us that wars, greed and abuse of all kinds don’t easily go away.
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However, history also tells us a different story: That it is possible to rein in evil forces so as to make our life worth living, a life in dignity, a life in safety. Since time immemorial human beings have also been yearning for justice and peace in a wide sense, a yearning that appears to be firmly rooted in the human species. On the other hand, this longing for justice and peace needs to be continuously nurtured and this from our early age. There is progress, and there is regression. It comes and goes in waves. We thought for instance at the turn of the century 20 year ago, after a brief period of apparently strong commitment by many governments to human rights, that the 21st century would be the century of hope and peace. However, so far, it has not turned out exactly that way, and the tendencies towards a deterioration of the protection of human rights in the world are all too palpable.
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Personally, I am growing increasingly frustrated by the lack of a firm political commitment to ensuring that peoples’ civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights be effectively protected, independently of who the people are and where they live. Of course, in public statements most governments do not normally dare say that the respect for human rights is not among their priorities, or that it is something that might even annoy them at times. However, the incoherence and inconsistency of government policies, be that at the internal or external levels, are in various ways revelatory of a profoundly cynical approach to human rights. There are, of course, very important differences between governments in this respect, but each one has room for improvement in some way or another. This is particularly so in a world of continuous change and with seemingly never-ending new challenges, big and small.
To address these challenges in a positive and constructive way, we need a strong ethical leadership around the world, including in small states. We need leaders who dare resist undue pressure from - and manipulations by - powerful countries, whose policies often undermine the basic principles of human rights, the peaceful settlement of disputes, security and peace around the world. If even smaller nations could mutually support each other when necessary, and agree on common policy positions to defend human rights and the peaceful solution of disputes, for instance, there might be a chance that we could rid the world of at least some of the policies that cause so much violence, dread, devastation, internally displaced persons, flows of refugees and death. Rarely, if ever, do these powerful countries themselves have to pay the true costs of the tragic consequences of their policies. On the contrary, they may even benefit from them. Furthermore, these states are so strong exactly because there is not enough opposition to their all too often misguided policies, which are based on a delusion of grandeur, and which display the leaders’ disdain for human life and international law. Regrettably, there may even be either passive or active complicity also from democratic and basically human rights friendly governments.
Human rights developed strongly in the aftermath of the Second World War, and this, as we know, for a tragic reason: The horrors of that war had shown, once again, that when you deny human beings their most basic rights, such as their right to life, their right to health, their right not to be subjected to torture or other forms of ill-treatment, their right to work, their right to education, their right to freedom of expression or freedom of association and assembly, their right to privacy, their right to equality and to justice, you are also creating a world where human dignity does not exist. And wherever human dignity is absent, you are also deliberately building, as we can see even today, an unequal, unjust, unsafe and insecure world, with increased risks of violence.
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If we want to prevent wars and other forms of upheaval, we must do the reverse: Take care of each other, respect each other, and show solidarity towards one another by building a society founded on justice and equality. This can only be done by ensuring respect for each human being’s civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights, as recognized by international law: Human Rights – Better Life!
This not only holds true at the national, regional and international levels of society: It is a reasoning that is particularly relevant also at the family level. When family members respect each other and treat each other with love, care, kindness and encouragement, it allows children to grow their own magical wings so that they can take off flying into the world using their potential to do some of the amazing things human beings are capable of doing when given an opportunity. If we manage to do this, then we have also sowed some seeds to a more peaceful and harmonious society. I am convinced that, if we want to rid our society of violence in general, and create a better life for all, we must start at home!
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While each government must have a strong and realistic human rights agenda to address the shortcomings in its country, we probably should not expect that our governments will either be able - or even willing - to do as much as is necessary. To complement the top-down approach to the promotion and protection of human rights, we therefore also need a bottom-up approach initiated and/or supported by individuals, groups of individuals, professional associations, civil society association, and business corporations, in order to stimulate both debate and action.
In speaking with people, I often hear that they believe that their voice does not matter, that they cannot influence political or other decisions. The result is that they remain silent and that their possibly valuable views are not heard. However, I firmly believe that each voice counts. If we want a better society, if we want wise decisions to be taken that benefit everyone, then we need to speak up and out and try to organise ourselves in a respectful way. There are many examples from history to prove the transformative role of individual initiatives. Don’t underestimate your capacity to change a however small part of the world for the better! In my blog, I will try to highlight some of the amazing individuals who have made a difference in extremely difficult circumstances. Next time, it might be you!
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I am also concerned about the state of democracy in the world, including in Europe. I see a profoundly worrisome lack of sustained commitment to consolidate our democracies, which are central to ensuring peace and security around the globe, thereby also providing a better life for the world’s populations. We can no longer take our democratic constitutional orders for granted. Some democracies are even being dismantled before our very eyes, with the consequence that the protection of human rights is, once again, sacrificed for political expediency.
This development does not bode well for human rights, because human rights and democracy are intrinsically linked. Without democracy human rights cannot be fully and effectively implemented, and there can be no true democracy without the free and full exercise of human rights, which includes a free press. This reasoning may sound circular, but the interdependence of these two fundamentally important legal notions cannot be disputed.
Some of the questions we have to ask are: How could the political climate that enabled what at least appeared to have been a clear commitment to human rights and democracy of many governments in the 1990s change so fast for the worse? How does this impact on our lives? How important is our freedom to us? Is it at all important? What kind of freedom do we want? What about our freedom of expression? Our right to privacy? Our freedom of religion? What about the freedom from torture and other forms of ill-treatment? Our rights to health, to education and to work? The right not to be subjected to discrimination on the basis of our age, gender, origin, religion, sexual orientation or any other ground? What about an independent and impartial judiciary that applies the rule of law, meaning that, in a democratic society, everybody is bound by the law and answerable to the law, including our governments?
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Perhaps most importantly, what can we - you and I - do in order to try to put things right, to have the pendulum swing back to a more sincere commitment to human rights and democracy, not only in theory but also in practice? This is a key question for our future, because, without Human Rights … no Better Life!
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These are some of the many important questions that cause considerable concern to me as a person, woman, spouse, mother, grandmother, friend and human rights lawyer, and which I will try to address in my blog Human Rights – Better Life. This blog is aimed at persons of all ages and from all walks of life, who are curious to know more about their rights, the rights of others, and how these rights relate to their specific lives and contexts.
Human rights are about creating a better life for all, a life in dignity. They are thus also about creating a world of freedom, justice, security and peace. I am lost in dreams of a better world. Please join me on this narrow winding road which is full of obstacles that need to be cleared for this dream to come true!
Anna-Lena Christina