Human rights should be enjoyed by all - Deputy Secretary-General

It is the duty of everyone to ensure that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its ideals adopted by the United Nations in 1948 are a living reality known, understood and enjoyed by everyone everywhere. Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba stressed this on the 60th anniversary of the Declaration on 10 December 2008.

“Respect for human rights must become part of our way of life, guiding the way we treat each other and build our societies and communities. We should strive for the day that the Commonwealth takes a leadership position on human rights,” said Ms Masire-Mwamba, who was speaking at a multicultural event staged at the Commonwealth Secretariat’s headquarters in London, UK, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Declaration.

“We need to continue promoting good practice in human rights; we need to get the human rights messages through to our leaders, to our young people who are our future decision-makers, teachers and parliamentarians,” she added. “Today, we take the opportunity not only to honour the Declaration and its ideas but to recommit, on the eve of the Commonwealth’s own 60th anniversary in 2009, to the rights set forth in the Declaration and to their implementation towards dignity and justice for all the 2 billion people of the Commonwealth.”

The Deputy Secretary-General stated that the Declaration was proclaimed as a “common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations” towards which individuals and societies should “strive by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance”. She acknowledged the visionary nature of the Declaration and its drafters, which included Commonwealth countries such as the UK, Canada, Australia, India and New Zealand.

“We are proud to have our Commonwealth history intertwined with that of the birth of modern thinking around human rights and we note with pleasure the synergy between the values of the Commonwealth and the principles of the Declaration. It has stood the test of time astonishingly well and provided the starting point not only for the contemporary international legal framework for human rights, but also the philosophical and moral shape of the values we hold dear in modern times and especially so in the modern Commonwealth. These values include democracy, addressing poverty and the promotion of human rights,” said Ms Masire-Mwamba.

She said the Commonwealth Secretariat will continue to be associated with initiatives and efforts to increase the capacity of government agencies and national human rights institutions to promote awareness of human rights and to protect those rights. The Deputy Secretary-General stated that the Secretariat aims to work with international and local partners to realise common objectives and to reinforce shared values and mandates. She said Commonwealth Heads of Government have reaffirmed their commitment to promote respect for and protection of human rights over the years, including in Uganda in 2007 and Zimbabwe in 1991 since the adoption of the Singapore Declaration of Commonwealth Principles in 1971, which is the cornerstone of the Commonwealth’s values in safeguarding human dignity and equality.

The Deputy Secretary-General launched a Commonwealth Secretariat publication on Human Rights in the Commonwealth which is a status report on the human rights achievements in member countries and the goals ahead in formal compliance with international human rights standards and norms. The publication documents the acceptance, reporting and reservations, country by country, of eight key pieces of law that protect human rights.

Dr Purna Sen, Head of Human Rights at the Secretariat, said: “The report documents positive initiatives such as moves towards Freedom of Information legislation, including in Ghana and Barbados; progress on economic and social rights in India and New Zealand; training of Caribbean police trainers in human rights in Jamaica and of magistrates in Malawi; and the establishment of a human rights commission in Bangladesh. This publication serves both to recognise progress and to share good practice in the hope that they may encourage and inspire others.”

Key Links:

• Human Rights

Related News:

• UDHR 60th Anniversary