Recognizing International Human Rights Day 2018

Today, the world commemorates International Human Rights Day and the 70th anniversary of the United Nations’ adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Declaration recognizes the inherent dignity and worth of every person and rights to which they are entitled. The Universal Declaration was reaffirmed in the 1993 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action.

Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, in the above photo, was appointed to be a delegate to the United Nations in 1945 where she soon became the first chairperson of the preliminary U.N. Commission on Human Rights. She was instrumental in creating the Universal Declaration. Roosevelt went on to serve as the first U.S. Representative to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights until 1953.

Often, human rights are conceived as global or international concerns. However, Ms. Roosevelt once remarked, “Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home -- so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. [...] Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world."

The Melrose Human Rights Commission (MHRC) is a 11-member municipal body established in 1992 to promote human rights and dignity in our city, propelled by the values in Ms. Roosevelt’s statement, the Universal Declaration, and the civil rights movement in the United States that followed.

Today, the MHRC recognizes some of the progress over the last few years in protecting and promoting human rights around the world, but also that much work remains.

Human rights successes

Globally, by 2017, the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia indicted 161 high-profile individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, or other crimes, several countries ratified the U.N. Convention against Torture and, a majority of the world’s countries abolished the death penalty by law and more than two-thirds by law or practice. In 2018, the Supreme Court of India decriminalized same-sex relationships, marking a major step forward for equal rights in the Global South, and Tunisia recently passed legislation expanding gender equity. Tunisia’s new Constitution, promulgated in 2014 after the Arab Spring swept away the old authoritarian government, enshrined fundamental individual and human rights and outlines specific protections for, among others, women, children, and people with disabilities.

In the United States, organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center successfully sued racist groups like the Aryan Nation out of existence. The successful passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010 extended health care to millions of uninsured Americans. More recently, the 2018 mid-term election ushered in significant voting rights successes, including in the states of Florida, Michigan, Maryland, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Missouri; Florida in particular approved a state constitutional amendment restoring voting rights eligibility to nearly 1.4 million people with prior felony convictions.

Locally, with the rise in hate or bias-based incidents, Governor Baker revived the Governor’s Task Force on Hate Crimes and recently sent recommendations to local police chiefs, encouraging immediate adoption. In September, the Melrose Board of Aldermen unanimously passed a resolution to support efforts defending transgender rights in Massachusetts and opposing a statewide ballot initiative that would have withdrawn legal protections in public accommodations. Organizations like the Melrose Alliance Against Violence (MAAV), Melrose Organizes for Real Equality (MORE), and the MHRC continue to work to make Melrose a welcoming place, to promote human rights, and to raise awareness.

The work continues

In 2018, Myanmar was found to have perpetrated genocide and sexual violence against the country’s Rohingya minority. In Chechnya, a region of Russia, LGBTQ people have been abducted, tortured, and murdered by likely state-sponsored actors. Political violence, repression, and massive human rights violations continue unabated in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Saudi Arabia’s U.S. backed war in Yemen has left millions on the brink of starvation, killed thousands of civilians, and destroyed much of the country’s civic infrastructure.

In the United States, black people continue to experience harassment, intimidation, and violence for no reason other than the color of their skin. Prison labor continues to be exploited by well-connected companies. LGBTQ individuals, particularly transgender people, face ever-present threats of violence. The recent murder of 11 Jewish worshipers in Pittsburgh marks the most serious anti-Semitic violence in U.S. history. Migrant children, separated from their parents by White House executive order, face abuse and neglect in so-called “transit camps.”

In Massachusetts, concerns persist around enforcement actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Disparities remain in equal access to housing and to the equal enjoyment of the rights and benefits guaranteed by the state and U.S. constitutions. Locally, racist, anti-Semitic, and transphobic graffiti has been discovered on public property, and personal property defaced, in and around Melrose.

These are just a few of many issues, globally, nationally, and locally. On International Human Rights Day 2018, we acknowledge the progress that has been made in defending and promoting human rights, but we also recommit to our efforts, because the work is not over. As the Jewish sage and scholar Hillel once said, “If not now, when?”

Some actions that can be done locally:

• Read and start conversations with family and friends about human rights
• Call your representatives at the local, state, and national level about human rights issues
• Attend a MAAV, MORE, or MHRC event
• Participate in the MHRC's Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service January 21, 2019

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