Principled words: Needed then and now

On Dec. 10, 75 years ago, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The official adoption (with only 8 member states abstaining and none rejecting) was in1948 though the General Assembly considered a version of the declaration as early as its first meeting in 1946.

With the barbarism of World War II still a vivid nightmare, the drafters hoped to prevent such atrocities in the future by articulating universal rights of each person on earth. Preventing atrocities in all circumstances all the time is not within the power of words. Their power, the foundational power of UDHR, has nonetheless manifested itself in international treaties, national constitutions, and domestic laws that are grounded in the thirty articles of UDHR. These legal documents have provided the means to fight for the rights of diverse individuals in places across the globe over these seven and a half decades.

We speak often, these days, about the power of hateful words. It is important to give equal thought to principled words.

Phil Klay, former U.S. Marine officer and celebrated writer, makes the case, in a 2017 essay, for the power of principled words and the physical consequences when their authors violate them. He argues, from research and experience, that protection of the human rights of enemies has been a guiding force for U.S. troops as far back as the leadership of George Washington.

When the U.S. has failed to live up to its own words, as occurred at Abu Ghraib, it has empowered its enemies: Young Iraqi men joined the Jihadists in large numbers. Klay writes, the loss of “our moral reputation started killing American soldiers.” We don’t need to limit our thinking to the U.S. military to appreciate the significance of Klay’s point. The framers of UDHR knew worldwide war and understood the need for principled words declaring everyone’s human rights everywhere and prompting nations to live into those words.

If we are tempted to think it was easier for people to get along in 1946 or 1948 than in 2023, we could remember that by 1948 the world was already/still politically divided east to west and north to south. Internal caste systems remained in place in nations throughout the world, including this one. Unresolved colonial exploitation was still simmering. All the more impressive that, for example, Hansa Metha in the Indian delegation had the determination to ensure the first article of UDHR reads “All human beings are born free and equal” rather than “All men.”

It is not so much knowledge of discord and violence over the last 75 years that distinguishes us from the framers of UDHR. What is different now is the workings of technology, especially the near-universal cellphone. Held close, cellphones and their algorithms know where each of us, individually, seek information and entertainment. They bracket each of us in echo chambers of ideas we already hold, creating, one might say, the opposite of universal principles. In a speech at a recent national gathering of Citizens Climate Lobby, Van Jones, former CNN journalist and successful political negotiator, reminded the audience of this technological reality. Because of it, he observed, the eloquence of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s principled words would no longer be widely spread among diverse audiences. But rather than despair of universal human rights, Jones redefined the task at hand. Our times challenge us to listen with the eloquence of Dr. King, Jones asserted.

The 30 articles of UDHR deserve our study and our commitment, but UNAUSA wisely began a process in 2022 of listening to American youth and enlisting them in revising and amending UDHR to create a more forward-thinking and inclusive document rooted, most importantly, in current youth participation. This Declaration of Human Rights by American Youth, the product of nationwide consultations and online negotiations, will be revealed on the 75th birthday of UDHR.

Johnson County UNA will be tabling on the Ped Mall in Iowa City Dec. 9 and 10, 12-4, to commemorate the anniversary of the adoption of UDHR, to add youth signatories to the new document, and to talk with shoppers about the work of the World Food Program, UNICEF, the High Commissioner for Refugees, and a number of other crucial U.N. operations in Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and more. Please come see us.

If you want also to act in support of specific individuals’ rights, see the Write for Rights tab on Amnesty International’s page celebrating the UDHR: amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/universal-declaration-of-human-rights.

Barbara Eckstein is president of the Johnson County United Nations Association.