ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT ON THE OCCASION OF THE RE-DEDICATION OF THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN
ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT, MARY MC ALEESE, ON THE OCCASION OF THE RE-DEDICATION OF THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Like the air that we all breathe, Human Rights are not limited by geographical, national or political boundaries. They are not exclusive to particular places or people. They cannot be excluded by prison bars, social status, race, religion, gender or generation. Like the air that we breathe, human rights are essential for the very existence of life itself. They are the oxygen of civilisation. Nobody owns human rights. Nobody has the authority to deny them to any of the peoples of the earth. Human rights, to quote Sir Edward Coke, speaking of Magna Charta in 1628, though before gender neutral language – “ is such a fellow, that he will have no sovereign”. They are the birthright of all.
- In the 50th anniversary year of the Declaration of Human Rights, it is timely that we reflect on what human kind has achieved in opening doors and windows – breaking down the barriers and obstacles – that have denied access to fundamental rights and freedoms. We realise that the denial of human rights is not something that is confined to another place – or “over there” – but can and does happen on our own doorstep. Haven’t we seen and read of resistance to political and economic refugees coming to Ireland? Haven’t we seen the denial of opportunity and freedom to people in Ireland? Isn’t there a tendency to retreat behind the circled wagons of fear and suspicion, and to exclude others of a different economic, religious, ethnic, national or political hue – to deny them the right of access? Irish society is pockmarked with many raw wounds inflicted by those who garner to themselves a dangerously smug superiority, whether of race, religion, class, language, accent, gender or generation, which erodes the humanity of the other and has devastating downstream consequences for individuals and communities.
- While those of us who enjoy freedom of opportunity, thought and expression, gather today to rededicate ourselves, as individuals, to the principles, aspirations and proclamations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - we think of the countless numbers of people, groups and communities throughout the entire world, who are still denied even the most basic of human rights. We ask ourselves what have we done? – what have we achieved? – have we moved forward or have we remained still? When we take stock of the world – our world - we realise that this 50th anniversary cannot be a celebration, or an occasion to be smug because of our own good fortune. But it is a commemoration – a commemoration of one of the great events in human history, when fundamental freedoms and rights were proclaimed in a declaration, which was to be “a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations”. It marked a major turning point on the road to civilisation. Sadly, many people have yet to reach or even to see that turning point in the far distance.
- Simone Weil said that “A right is not effectual by itself, but only in relation to the obligation to which it responds”. Human rights bring responsibilities and obligations – obligations on all of us as individuals – to identify with those who are denied that basic oxygen of life - to highlight their plight – to persuade the holders of keys and the builders of ramparts, that they too have obligations and responsibilities. As members of the human family, we must look out for our own sisters and brothers. We cannot leave it to others – to institutions, Governments, or to international bodies. None of us can afford to stand back and be complacent. Where the human rights of one are denied, the human rights of all are threatened. What we have is always vulnerable to the bully. Each and everyone one of us - especially in countries and places where the doors and windows of opportunity and freedom were prised open with great difficulty and at great human cost – every one of us has a particular responsibility to those who are less fortunate, to re-dedicate ourselves to the visions, principles and standards enshrined in the Declaration of Human Rights.
- In Seamus Heaney’s words, each one of us is an “Ambassador” for human rights.