75 years ago, on December 10, 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), a unique text of its kind in that it makes room for several legal traditions and policies. In addition to people from Anglo-Saxon countries and France, we find among the editors representatives of China, Haiti, Lebanon, Chile and the USSR; sign of the times, only one woman participates in the editorial committee.
The text recognizes not only civil and political rights, but also economic and social rights; this Declaration is ambitious since it aims for nothing less than to take a leap forward for a humanity emerging from the Second World War and the Holocaust.
Its preamble opens as follows: “Considering that recognition of the inherent dignity of all members of the human family and of their equal and inalienable rights constitutes the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. » The need to free human beings from terror and misery is mentioned. In addition, its article 28 specifies that “Everyone has the right to the reign, on the social and international level, of an order such that the rights and freedoms set out in this Declaration can find full effect”. Furthermore, it enjoins States with the obligation to protect and promote the rights set forth therein.
One might think that at the end of 2023, in a situation marked by another Israeli-Palestinian clash, the election of populist leaders in the Netherlands and Argentina, the participation of far-right parties in several governments of the European Union and the reduction in the number of countries that can be called democracies, such a Declaration is no more than the paper it is written on. The League of Rights and Freedoms, which itself is celebrating its 60th anniversary, believes rather that it is both the result of the social struggles of the centuries which preceded it and an essential tool for the movements which, even today , demand justice and dignity for all.
Because human rights have a long history rooted in struggles against slavery, against exploitation, against colonization, for democracy, to name just a few. And since its proclamation, the UDHR and the various UN human rights instruments have served as a basis for movements for the rights of women, LGTBQ+, people with disabilities, colonized peoples, racialized people, as well as for environmental protection. Here again the list is far from exhaustive.
Three major threats today weigh on the international human rights system that the UDHR began to establish. The first concerns economic globalization, which reduces human beings to their dimension ofHomo oeconomicusweakens public services and promotes the internationalization of capital while slowing down the free movement of people.
The second is the weakness of the international system represented by the UN, which depends too largely on member states to enforce its principles and decisions; We were able to take stock of this recently when the UN Secretary General’s call for a ceasefire in Gaza was ignored by the Israeli government.
The third of these threats is the rise of reactionary and populist movements which refuse to recognize “the inherent dignity of all members of the human family and their equal and inalienable rights”. Let’s think about the Trump phenomenon and his followers like Bolsonaro or Milei and their speeches which combine praise of capital, misogyny, homophobia and racism. Closer to home, let us think of the identity-based nationalism which is flourishing in Quebec and is based on a divide between “us” and “them” while calling into question fundamental freedoms in the name of the “defense of the nation” and its “ values”.
This 75e anniversary of the UDHR allows us to understand what has been accomplished and what remains to be done. Because human rights, if they are not firmly defended, risk being reduced to nothing. This is why we need independent bodies to promote, defend and expand human rights and tirelessly remind governments of their commitments in this area.