Justice Writes - The Universal Declaration on Human Rights

THERE IS international turmoil caused by the September 11 attack. There is a palpable fear and uncertainty of the future, especially when one is daily bombarded with powerful people using words like 'retribution', 'crusades', 'war' and 'revenge'.

Perhaps, in the middle of the prospect of international slaughter, this might be the time to stop and consider the value and dignity of human life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is the first comprehensive human rights instrument to be proclaimed by a universal international organisation.

Because of its moral status and the legal and political importance it has acquired over the years, the Declaration ranks with the Magna Carta, the American Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man as a milestone in mankind's struggle for freedom and justice.

Eleanor Roosevelt, that progressive and visionary American First Lady, in 1948, chaired the United Nations Committee given the task to create the UDHR which, some 53 years later needs no revision but which still demands the world's attention and adherence. Mrs. Roosevelt, more than many of her generation or, for that matter, many of following generations, understood the intrinsic dignity of human beings and was often heard reciting the following prayer:

"Our Father, who has set a restlessness in our hearts and made us all seekers after that which we can never fully find, forbid us to be satisfied with what we make of life.

Draw us from base content and set our eye on far-off goals. Keep us from fretfulness and self-pitying; make us sure of the good we cannot see and of the hidden good of the world.

Open our eyes to the simple beauty all around us and our hearts to the loveliness men hide from us because we do not try to understand them.

Save us from ourselves and show us a vision of a world made new."

Hopefully, after reading the following simplified Articles of the Universal Human Rights Declaration readers will be reminded that, indeed the world is small, that all people are one people, striving to obtain justice regardless of nationality, ethnic grouping, race or religion. Readers should also note that Jamaica is a signatory to this document.

The Articles of the UDHR:

1. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.

2. Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind.

3. Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

4. No one shall be held in slavery or servitude.

5. No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

6. Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

7. All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection by the law.

8. Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals

9. For acts violating the fundamental rights granted him/her by the constitution of by law.

10. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

11. Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal.

12. Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

13. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with their privacy, family, home or correspondence, or to attacks upon their honour and reputation.

14. Everyone has the right to freedom of movement.

15. Everyone has the right to seek and enjoy, in other countries, asylum from persecution.

16. Everyone has the right to a nationality.

17. Men and women have the right to marry and have a family.

18. Everyone has the right to own property.

19. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

20. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression.

21. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

22. Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his or her country.

23. Everyone as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to the realisation of economic, social and cultural rights.

24. Everyone has the right to work. Everyone has the right to form and join trade unions.

25. Everyone has the right to rest and leisure.

26. Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for health and well being.

27. Everyone has the right to education.

28. Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community.

29. Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set for in this Declaration can be fully realised.

30. Everyone has duties to the community.

31. Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying any right to engage in any activity aimed at the destruction of the rights and freedoms set forth.

You may write Jamaicans for Justice atja.for.justice@
cwjamaica.com or visit their web site at www.jamaiacans
forjustice.org.

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