The human rights cause is a noble, and a challenging one. In the immortal words of the opening article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience, and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. This precept has inspired the work of the United Nations and of the international community at large ever since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights seventy-five years ago, on 10 December, 1948.
Even if many challenges remain, much good work has undoubtedly been done since then. An elaborate code of human rights norms has been developed and is available for individuals and groups to draw upon in their quest for the fulfilment of their lives and aspirations. The United Nations, and the human rights movement, have sought to publicize and disseminate these norms world-wide and to promote teaching and education about human rights.
The spotlight has been placed on the needs and circumstances of a broad range of people and groups experiencing problems in the enjoyment of their inalienable human rights, including children, women, minorities, indigenous peoples, persons suffering from discrimination, whether it be on grounds of race, gender, religion or language, persons with disabilities, persons with varying sexual orientations, persons living in poverty, or persons subjected to persecution and violations of their inalienable human rights.
Norms have been adopted, international days, years or decades proclaimed, conferences held, institutions established, and fact-finding processes initiated. Step by step, progress has been made in dealing with problems on the ground – even if numerous problems of gross violations remain to be addressed.
The international and regional human rights treaty bodies, institutions such as the UN Human Rights Council and its predecessor, the Commission on Human Rights, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Office of the Special Representatives of the UN Secretary-General on the responsibility to protect and the prevention of genocide, the African Commission and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the asean Inter-governmental Commission on Human Rights, the European Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Commission and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the European Union, the osce High Commissioner on National Minorities, and the broad range of human rights non-governmental organizations have all made important contributions, and continue to do so, even if much work remains to be done to achieve the universal realization of human rights.
The Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights now has 110 field or country offices and is planning to establish many more of these if the funding can be obtained for this. There are nearly sixty UN fact-finding bodies or commissions of inquiry doing important work. They gather facts on the ground, analyze them, draw up reports with recommendations for national, regional or international action. Many of these reports reach the UN General Assembly or the UN Security Council.
The International Criminal Court and ad hoc international criminal courts have been seeking to bring perpetrators of criminal violations of human rights to justice. An invaluable body of jurisprudence has been established for the future protection of people at risk.
Within the UN Human Rights Council and in other international and regional bodies, notably the African Union and asean, there is growing recognition of the need to act for the prevention of gross violations of human rights. The UN Human Rights Council has adopted policy resolutions on the need to further develop preventive human rights strategies that we must build upon.2 Based on the work of the UN Human Rights Council and its Advisory Body, the UN General Assembly adopted a landmark Declaration on Human Rights Education. We must give heightened importance to its implementation in the future, including as a preventive strategy.
Yes, on the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, there is much to be thankful for when it comes to the quest for the universal realization of human rights. But there are also many problems and challenges ahead. The fact-finding reports presented to the UN Human Rights Council, and the reports published by human rights ngos show that gross
We need to be mindful of the findings of the 2023 World Values Survey, a quinquennial exercise now in its fifth round. Commenting on its findings in its issue of August 12, 2023, The Economist drew attention to the issue of democracy and human rights. Authoritarians, it noted, are on the march, arguing that universal values are the new imperialism. The latest survey shows that some countries prioritize security over rights, while people vary across countries in the priority they accord to individual rights, religious values, or security. There is need for further work to undergird the universality of human rights.4
The period ahead is one that will call for new strategies, for the evolution of international authority, for heightened emphasis on preventive efforts, for the spread of education about human rights, and for a revitalized diplomacy of human rights. Evolving strategies must recognize the new problems and challenges at hand, including climate change, the development of new technologies and the evolving configurations of power among the great powers.
In addressing the challenges posed by new technologies, our starting point must be the international human rights norms. They must inspire and guide our analyses of the issues to be tackled. In tackling climate change, we shall need to consider the relevant human rights norms as well as how international authority will need to develop in order to help deal with the challenge of millions of people being forced to flee from their current abode to places of safety.
In seeking to advance the cause of human rights in a new international power configuration, we will need to enhance the diplomacy of human rights to help us enlarge areas of agreement and of common ground when it comes to international human rights norms. Human rights work includes roles for both the fire-brigade and the gardener, the seed planter. Even as we seek to put out the fires of gross violations of human rights, we must be planting the seeds for the prevention of future human rights violations and for the protection of people through the emplacement of adequate and effective national human rights protection systems influenced by the Universal Declaration of Human
Our future work must continue to embrace efforts for the promotion and the protection of economic, social and cultural rights as well as civil and political rights. It is right that due emphasis be given to national and international implementation of the right to development. And we must be ever mindful that discrimination on grounds of race, sex, language, or religion remains widespread across the globe.
The present book, written by a board member of the Universal Rights Group, one who has devoted the past half-century to the cause of human rights, invites us to think about some of the problems and challenges ahead when it comes to the quest for the universal realization of human rights. For his analysis and insights, the human rights movement is grateful.
Marc Limon
Executive Director, Universal Rights Group
See Bertrand Ramcharan, Gianni Magazzeni, Mona M’Bikay and Ines French (Eds.), A Global Handbook on National Human Rights Protection Systems. Leiden, Brill/Nijhoff, 2023.
See on this, Marc Limon and Marianna Montoya, Human Rights Preventive Strategies, in Bertrand Ramcharan, Rachel Brett, Ann-Marie Clark and Penny Parker (Eds.), The Protection Roles of Human Rights ngos. Leiden, Brill/Nijhoff, 2023.
See on this, Bertrand Ramcharan, Rachel Brett, Ann-Marie Clark and Penny Parker (Eds.), The Protection Roles of Human Rights ngos. Leiden, Brill/Nijhoff, 2023.
See on this, Bertrand Ramcharan, Theo van Boven, Abdul Koroma and Ines French (Eds.), The Universality of Human Rights. A Handbook. Leiden, Brill/Nijhoff, 2023.