2:52
Re: What is the human rights movement?
Exec. Director, Witness; Human Rights Advocate
Without human rights, we have nothing.
Transcript:Well I mean first and foremost because without our human rights we have nothing. In fact it’s interesting to imagine – almost impossible to imagine – that the human rights treaties and conventions that we talk about are just over 50 years old right now. I mean they were really born in 1948 in the wake of World War II in response to the horrors of that war. And it is remarkable to imagine that in fact prior to that, we had no single framework at a universal global level through which to articulate the right to freedom of speech, the right . . . All of the rights we’re talking about – civil, political, social, economic and cultural – have only recently been codified. And yet they have their origins really hundreds of years ago in various traditions. And you can see them even in many of the religious texts that have emerged over time. So I think when I say without human rights we have nothing, what I mean is that they are so fundamental to our ability to be productive, and healthy, and happy, and cooperative as human beings on this planet. And there’s never been a time when we’re more in need of that kind of cooperation, and collaboration, and productivity.
December 26, 2007 | In Politics & Policy
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