Sixty-one years ago today, the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, guaranteeing everyone the essential freedoms which most of us take for granted.
It provided a guide for people all around the world to help them understand what their rights are and how they can defend them.
Its message – that all human beings have the right to dignity and equality – is as relevant today as it was in 1948.
Many of the refugees who I have worked with fled countries that failed to respect their rights. Although they were devastated about having to leave their own country, they were also grateful to be given sanctuary in the UK, a country that allows its citizens to freely express their political opinions.
However, in recent years, we have seen politicians in this country engaging in political point-scoring against people seeking sanctuary, to prove how tough they are. They have failed to challenge some of the language that has been used to describe refugees and asylum seekers, which has been nothing short of demonising. Words like ‘scrounger’ and ‘bogus’ have become commonplace, irrespective of each person’s individual circumstances.
In fact, so many refugees have contributed their skills to British society. There are more than 2,000 refugee and asylum seeker health professionals and an estimated 1,500 refugee teachers across the UK. But these facts don’t seem to be filtering through. Just last week there were reports that a European poll suggested that the British are ‘more…….xenophobic than the rest of western Europe.’
While the declaration quite rightly upheld the right to free speech, it also guaranteed the right to seek refuge and promises freedom from discrimination. It is highly debatable whether the barrage of abuse those seeking refuge have received in the past ten years can be called fair comment. It is essential that as we enter the next decade, everyone respects the right to seek sanctuary.
Between the marking of this Human Rights Day and the next there will be an election in this country. We urge politicians to enter that process remembering that this declaration should be echoed throughout each manifesto. Nobody, whatever the colour of their skin, their religion or their country of origin, should be denied their fundamental human rights.
Posted by Sandy Buchan
On this International Human Rights Day, I want to tell you about George, a refugee from Zimbabwe. His tale is a constant reminder that human rights are a shared responsibility, for everyone.
George had a normal life back in Zimbabwe, with a job, a wife, and four children, but he couldn’t stand idle as Robert Mugabe drove his once great country into ruin, and so he campaigned for the opposition party during the 2000 election. The results are best described in George’s own words:
“The election was rigged so that Mugabe won. During the campaign, I had witnessed countless atrocities being committed by the authorities – they came after my friends and other members of the opposition. When I realised that Mugabe’s thugs were after me, too, I had to flee Zimbabwe, so my family and I came to the UK.”
George and his family are now safe from Mugabe, but their lives have been turned upside down and they can never go home – all because he tried to stand up to his country’s government. His story is a constant reminder of how fortunate we are to live in a real democracy.
But like George, we can’t stand idle. Click here to stand up for our rights here in the UK – the right to protest, the right to privacy, the right to free speech:
http://www.power2010.org.uk/rights
In Britain we have the privilege of dissent. We can raise our voice comfortable in the knowledge that our families are safe from government reprisal. But we have also lost many of the rights and freedoms we once took for granted.
“My children are bright and talented, but I fear their future is doomed. For now, a decent life where my family can build a future remains a distant dream, as elusive as when we first fled the violence in Zimbabwe.
“You, in Britain, don’t understand what you have. You don’t understand what you are losing.”
It’s because of stories like George’s that POWER2010 and I are working to protect our rights and renew our democracy here in the UK. On International Human Rights Day we need to remember that every right we allow our government to take from us invites another – and to truly protect our freedoms we need to change our politics. Click the link below and join me in celebrating our democracy:
http://www.power2010.org.uk/rights