Every 10th December, the world celebrates the Human Rights Day in commemoration and remembrance of the vibrant understanding on what human rights should be as enshrined by The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on the same day in 1948. The UDHR is a milestone document that proclaimed the inalienable rights which each individual is inherently entitled to as a human being regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
#StandUp4HumanRights
On the 10th December 1948, the UDHR was this covenant between States and civilisations towards a new era of understanding, tolerance, acceptance, empowerment and respect; in opposition to the yet to be healed wounds of World War II; of social unrest, racism and xenophobia, the pink triangle (a symbol of the Nazi war against homosexuals), the holocaust (persecution of Jews) and failing enterprises and economies.
Pink Triangle – Nazi war against Homosexuals during World War II
Undoubtedly, most of us, through convictions, beliefs, or self-determination, shall agree to the principle that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”. Yet, believing and holding convictions do not mean much if they do not materialise. Are we not weary of the endless hollow words of charlatans, swindlers, quacks and fake leaders who make us dream of a yet to be Promised Land?
#StandUp4HumanRights means acting for the rights, dignity and freedom of oneself and others.
Today, most of us will be sharing a post, pictures, a thought, and a tag-line around the Human Rights Day 2017 – mostly on social media or other such e-platforms to raise awareness, in the hope that other friends and peers share the same philosophy as we do.
Others live through this firm belief by standing up against oppression and discrimination, towards the self and those whose rights are being suppressed and violated. Giving someone a shelter, food, clothing… and love. Human rights without humanity and human feelings are void.
#StandUp4HumanRights is also fighting relentlessly to enable those without rights to be free and equal in dignity and rights. Imagine the steps that you have taken to empower yourself to stand up for your rights in your harshest times. Imagine of the queer youth that you have been able to support this year because their parents wanted to disinherit them for their difference and talked the family into accepting their loved child back into the house – a family reunited, a home rebuild. Imagine another queer person being bullied, harassed and being subject to violence that you have been able to empower in regaining self-confidence, self-respect and assertiveness such that they can stand up for themselves in the face of injustice. Imagine those queer people whose hopes for a better future of love, freedoms and respect have been left forgotten on the murky ground due to blatant homophobic governments and violent religious leaders; yet, in the face of these dreameaters, you have been the voice that rekindled those hopes that someday there can be a country where we can be free and equal in dignity and rights?
A utopia? Rather, many stories yet to unfold and a reality of few stories yet to be told to many rapt ears for centuries more.
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