Kohl recently posted beautifully about Rigoberta Menchu, human rights and the United Nations amongst other things. It reminded me of a talk I went to by Dr Hans Keung back in 1999 about the Universal Declaration of Human Responsibilities, a companion or mirroring idea to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In its most basic form the idea is you have the right not to be tortured AND you have the responsibility not to torture, which is coming full circle.
There are many versions, yet I like the one by the Inter-Action Council called "UDHR-English" on search engines http://www.interactioncouncil.org/udhr/declaration/udhr.pdf and more about the world's religious and political leaders involved in this group is at: http://www.interactioncouncil.org/
Here are some excerpts:
The following draft of human responsibilities seeks to bring freedom and responsibility into balance and to promote a move from the freedom of indifference to the freedom of involvement. If one person or government seeks to maximise freedom but does it at the expense of others, a larger number of people will suffer. If human beings maximise their freedom by plundering the natural resources of the earth, then future generations will suffer.
There are many versions, yet I like the one by the Inter-Action Council called "UDHR-English" on search engines http://www.interactioncouncil.org/udhr/declaration/udhr.pdf and more about the world's religious and political leaders involved in this group is at: http://www.interactioncouncil.org/
Here are some excerpts:
The following draft of human responsibilities seeks to bring freedom and responsibility into balance and to promote a move from the freedom of indifference to the freedom of involvement. If one person or government seeks to maximise freedom but does it at the expense of others, a larger number of people will suffer. If human beings maximise their freedom by plundering the natural resources of the earth, then future generations will suffer.
There is no need for a complex system of ethics to guide human action. There is one ancient rule that, if truly followed, would ensure just human relations: the Golden Rule. In its negative form, the Golden Rule mandates that we not do to others what we do not wish be done to us. The positive form implies a more active and solidary role: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Bearing in mind the Golden Rule, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides an ideal starting point from which to consider some of the main obligations which are a necessary complement to those rights.
·
If we have a right to life, then we have the obligation to respect life. ·
If we have a right to liberty, then we have the obligation to respect other people’s liberty. ·
If we have a right to security, then we have the obligation to create the conditions for every human being to enjoy human security. ·
If we have a right to partake in our country’s political process and elect our leaders, then we have the obligation to participate and ensure that the best leaders are chosen. ·
If we have a right to work under just and favorable conditions to provide a decent standard of living for ourselves and our families, we also have the obligation to perform to the best of our capacities. ·
If we have a right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, we also have the obligation to respect other’s thoughts or religious principles. ·
If we have a right to be educated, then we have the obligation to learn as much as our capabilities allow us and, where possible, share our knowledge and experience with others. ·
If we have a right to benefit from the earth’s bounty, then we have the obligation to respect, care for and restore the earth and its natural resources.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI pledge allegiance to the Earth,
ReplyDeleteThis unique blue planet,
Graced by life, our only home.
I promise to repect all living things,
To protect to the best of my abilities,
All parts of our planet's environment,
And to promote peace among the human family,
With liberty and justice for all.
A.W. Bauer, 1986
"If we have a right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, we also have the obligation to respect other’s thoughts or religious principles."
ReplyDeleteEthnocentrism of the western values tend to play out in world globalization and it modernization.
I have ran into various version in my life, but I really love this one by Inter-Action Council. I sincerely respect the sequence and the wordings of the document. I hope such document is emphasized in K-12 education, since it's the root of it all as well as key principles to solving and understanding global conflicts of politics and religions. Their webpage that you linked has a great deal of resources as well. I wish everyone has chance to indulge in it.
One thing that I think people are missing in all of this, is the ability to agree to disagree and leave it at that. We could do a much better job loving humanity for it's humanity if we better understood our differences without trying to change them to likenesses.
ReplyDeletePeople of all nations and all faiths, have the capability to be fallible in ways they might not understand. Even those that do wrong by our individual moral values or religious beliefs have the right to live and experience life in their own path.
While I may not agree with fundamentalist religious ideals or everyone's views on abortion or the death penalty, I still hope to maintain my humanity and belief that there is humanity in all of our actions. Fallible humanity, but still wonderful humanity as well. Space exploring humanity, romantic humanity, caring, humanity and artistic humanity will always hold me steadfast in the positive possibilities of the human race and prevent me from breaking and succumbing to the negatives of our presence on Earth.
I <3 my planet, even with it's faults.
Wow that is very impressive! And I am on the minority's side! It is very cheering to read the article especially the words that are bolded. Why do they have to be tortured and why are they always the victims.
ReplyDeleteAnd also we have been talking about how the minorties are being treated unfairly but this article inspried me that it is also thier responsibility to fight for thierself.