Blogging For Human Rights Day

 61 years ago today, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In all there are thirty rights that are in the declaration. I am only going to show the first ten. Out of the first ten there are only two I did not add an atrocity to. Even my own leader of the United States is avoiding the issue of human rights in countries such as China.* If a world leader will not speak up then it falls to the people to stand against the offenders of these rights. I add my voice to those who cry for justice.




Article 1.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Baad - Giving away a girl as “compensation” to settle a dispute between tribes or families
Article 2.
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Tell that to Sitara Achakzai, a Kandahar Provincial
Council member, who was shot dead on 12 April 2009, or Malalai
Kakar, the highest-ranking female police officer in Kandahar killed in September 2008,
Sitara Achakzai had consciously decided to keep fighting to end the abuse of Afghan women.
Article 3.
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Afghan women are subjected to an increasingly insecure
environment. Women participating in public life face threats, harassment and attacks. In extreme cases, women have been killed for holding jobs that are seen to disrespect traditional practices or are considered “un-Islamic.”
Article 4.
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
Although most people may not be aware that in the 21st century slavery still exists, reports declare that the number of slaves at present is the highest it has ever been (Free the Slaves). Presently, about 700,000 children and women are trafficked around the world annually. The UN says that profits for this trafficking amount to approximately $7 billion a year (Anti-Slavery International).

Article 5.
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
“And then he turned to us, Croats, and he started speaking to us. ‘Listen you guys, we are going to kill all of you. We are going to burn you all. We are going to throw your ashes into the Danube, to destroy your Croat seed.’ I remember that sentence and I shall never forget it.”
A Croat from Vukovar, relating what he heard a soldier say to him and other prisoners, in the case against Slobodon Milosevic.
Article 6.
Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Article 7.
All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Article 8.
Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

Carrie Shelver, an activist with People Opposing Women Abuse, said: "Generally there's a deficit of understanding and commitment to women's rights by the leadership of this country. It's simply not on people's agenda."
A report published by the trade union Solidarity earlier this month said that one child is raped in South Africa every three minutes, with 88% of rapes going unreported. It found that levels of child abuse in South Africa are increasing rapidly.

Article 9.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
What does Aung  San Suu Kyi think of this right? She has been under house arrest for most of the last 19 years.
Article 10.
Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

Reporting from Bogota, Colombia, and Sao Paulo, Brazil -- The police killing earlier this year of 22-year-old clerk and expectant father Jose Carlos Barbosa in a Rio de Janeiro slum was anything but an isolated incident. He is one of more than 11,000 people slain at the hands of authorities in that city and Sao Paulo since 2003.

* Story here