“Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world”
Today we celebrate the PREAMBLE to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In the wake of WWII and the Holocaust, it was recognized that we as a human community have to work proactively to prevent such barbarism from occurring again. Of course, that is by no means easy to do. It was not easy for the drafting committee, representing many major nations and political philosophies of the globe, to come to agreement. The committee members, including Eleanor Roosevelt (US), Rene Cassin (France), Hansa Mehta (India), and Charles Malik (Lebanon), worked at listening to each other, compromising, agreeing to disagree at times, and keeping their eyes on the big picture. They even managed to keep a recalcitrant Soviet representative on board just enough not to upend the whole process. We need that kind of pragmatic civility in our politics today!
Eleanor Roosevelt famously said that universal human rights begin “in small places, close to home—so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.”
And that’s why the Connecticut Human Rights Partnership and our growing list of cosponsors invites everyone to come celebrate with us on September 8 and renew your commitment to enacting human rights in places close to your own homes. The grassroots groups that will be rallying with us on September 8 are the ones who make the promise of human rights come alive.
Follow @cthumanrightspartnership on Facebook and Instagram
Don’t forget to repost these incredible artistic renderings, and use the hashtag #StandUp4HumanRightsCT