Robert Fisk once said that the only thing we have learned from history, is that we never learn from history. It is unfortunate that the world thrives on scorn, hatred, and despair. But this is our lot. And for the human rights activists on the ground, in the field, working for a better future, for respect, and the basic fundamentals outlined by the UN Declaration of Human Rights, the struggle will undoubtedly continue for a long, long time. These rights, these rights existed long before this document was ever penned.
When I started this blog, I quoted Milan Kundera who wrote that the struggle against authority, is a struggle against memory and forgetting. Just before the war erupted with Russia, I asked Georgia's then prime minister, Vladimer (Lado) Gurgenidze, why his country, the "darling of the West", had passed legislation to imprison 12 year-olds. You can listen as he tries his best not to answer- here.
The Security Council, the world powers, have chosen to forget the pleas and the cries of Sudan, of Srebrenica, of Darfur, of the Western Sahara, of Rwanda, of so many other internal conflicts. Repeat, repeat. But the voices are there. We can see them on sites like The Hub so that we do not forget, so that we remain conscious that everyone of us is responsible. Not because of guilt, not because of indirect involvement, but because it is our duty as humans, as people who understand what it means to hate and to love, to help one in another in times of suffering.
The United States government has a huge role to play in the development of human rights. But unfortunately, the US continues to boycott multilateral organizations critical of Israel like the UN's Human Rights Council. And the US has no official representation at the International Criminal Court. These organizations have their faults, but in a increasingly globalized world, the US must play a greater role and accept both responsibility and criticism.
The United Nations correspondent for The Nation, Barbara Crossette, put's it succinctly – "The USA is MIA."
