Human Rights Day: To Celebrate or to Mourn?

Today is exactly 60 years to the day since the UK government and 47 other members of the United Nations at the time unanimously adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and 30 years since it came into legal force. This year is also;

• 1311 years since Cáin Adomnáin (a part of the Brehon Laws) [covering parts of Ireland and Scotland],
• 792 years since the Magna Carta [covering England],
• 319 years since the ‘Bill of Rights‘ [covering England & Wales] and ‘Claim of Right‘ [covering Scotland],
• 55 years since the entering into force of the European Convention on Human Rights,
• and 10 years since the Human Rights Act 1998.

It is also 2 years since the drafting of the Yogyakarta Principles, a recasting of the Universal Declaration with specific regard to “sexual orientation and gender identity”.

And yet, even here in one of top 10 countries by numerous counts, countless human individuals are being denied their human rights, even the most fundamental ones, such as right to healthcare, a life without violence and abuse, and the right to life(!), *simply* for loving who they are attracted to, or enjoying consensual pleasure, or making an ethical living, or just trying to be themselves. And the worst of it, is that on this day, when inevitably our governments will be making celebrations, our Parlimentary Government of what is meant to be the people’s party is actively using the civil forces at it’s disposal to demonise, threaten, terrorise, imprison, refuse to protect, and abuse innocent citizens from minority and invisible groups, under the guise of protecting ‘the majority’ from “harm” and “abuse”, solely for political advantage.

Today is not a day to celebrate false promises, but to agitate for their fulfilment.

~ Jessika