"The World is Failing on Human Rights"
A minor story on today's BBC news; a side story of mankind at a critical juncture, an afterthought in a time of seismic motion (pun and no pun, both intended). According to Amnesty International's 2008 State of the World's Human Rights:
"...people are still being tortured or ill-treated in at least 81 countries.
In at least 54 states they face unfair trial and cannot speak freely in at least 77 nations... "
The thing that really struck me was the size of the sample; my mind tends to immediately wander to the outer edges of information. The applicable bookend put things in troubling perspective: the sample size was 150 countries. 1 to 150. In more than half of the countries sampled around the world, people are being tortured or ill-treated. This makes torture and ill treatment the rule, not the exception. This is a troubling state of affairs, to say the least, in 2008; 60 years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights in the UN. Another stark reminder of the ineffectiveness of the United Nations in so many critical areas. Yes, there are flash points and exceptions and outliers; Burma, Zimbabwe, North Korea, the other pariah states are never expected to confirm to norms of decency; but increasingly, world powers are reverting back to cruel behavior, a de-evolution of mankind and society, a troubling move backwards into the future. This sample does not include most of the really redoubtable offenders; states with barely functioning governments, who exist only to empower themselves and provide zero public service and thus zero regard for human rights or decency.
According to Amnesty International:
"Despite increased economic growth in recent years in many African states, millions of people continued to live without access to the basic requirements of a dignified life, such as adequate housing, education or health care. Political instability, armed conflict, corruption, under-development and under-investment in basic social services all contributed to the failure to make economic, social and cultural rights a reality for men, women and children across the region."
The rule, not the exception, in so much of the world. Basic societal stability achieved not through equity and opportunity, but through violence and repression. This is an all encompassing mindset that follows the facile path to power; actually developing and empowering citizens requires far greater degrees of work and dedication than simply empowering thugs with crude weapons and impunity. Amnesty's report adds:
"Police and other law enforcement officers were rarely held accountable for serious human rights violations, including arbitrary arrests and detention, torture and other ill-treatment. Such impunity prevailed in many countries including Angola, Burundi, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Law enforcement officers frequently used excessive force in countries including Benin, the Republic of Guinea, Kenya, Mauritania, Nigeria, Sudan and Zimbabwe. Incidents of excessive use of force were often not investigated, even when people were killed."
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.
Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
-Margaret Mead
