Seventy-one years ago, after the atrocities of the Holocaust bore witness to the systematic deaths of six million Jews, world leaders began to seek to identify what constitutes our fundamental human rights.

Prior to 1948, human rights were often overlooked by the despots of history. Human history has been plagued by various forms of persecution by some against others because of racial prejudice, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or cultural difference.

In today’s splintered world, it is sometimes difficult to find commonalities that we can embrace as an integral part of our communities. But International Human Rights Day, which was celebrated this week, reminded us that it was not so long ago that the world came together to do exactly that. 

On December 10, 1948, the United Nations unanimously adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), a set of rights to which all individuals are entitled: the right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; the right to freedom of religion or belief; the right to freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly; the right to form and join trade unions. 

Under the UDHR, every human being in the world can claim these rights as their own birthright, no matter their citizenship or allegiance. But while this document is a historic step in honoring human rights for mankind, it is up to us as individuals to respect these human rights and hold our leaders accountable when they are neglected.

We must not be bystanders to violations of human rights. In doing so we devalue not only the dignity of the victim but also our own inherent dignity. Our common humanity must be unafraid to shine a spotlight on human rights abuses and challenges wherever they might occur.

Open societies provide the best means of ensuring that this kind of transparency and accountability exists, and because we believe in open societies, we are not afraid to turn the lens on ourselves. Doing so makes us better and stronger.  

At a sporting event, at school, in the workplace, in a restaurant, on social media, on public transport, in the voting booth, and even in the street, we can make a real difference. Wherever we are, every person has a role to play in protecting, defending, honouring and advocating for human rights because it speaks to our common humanity and takes root throughout the world.

By stepping forward and speaking out in defense of women’s rights, migrants’ rights, an LGTBQ+ person, a minority group, or a child, we stand up for human dignity and protect the human rights to which every person is entitled. 

It is not only governments that have this duty. Governments are, after all, composed of individuals. Every person has a role to play in protecting and standing up for human rights; as Gandhi said, we should be the change we wish to see in the world, for ourselves and generations to come.

Every person has a role to play in protecting, defending, honouring and advocating for human rights

We have lived in a world without human rights once before. It was a time when a person was shunned from society for the colour of their skin. It was a time of forced labour. It was an age of repressing a women’s access to life outside the household. It was a time when people could not be free to coexist.

It was a time when one could be killed for practising a religion deemed unworthy by society. It was a dark age of mankind, that allowed the deaths of many innocents. The UDHR was intended to end the evil oppression of human beings.

Even though human rights have flourished in democratic, open societies, there are places in the world where the restrictions on human rights still exist. Some of today’s worst abusers of human rights were original adopters of the UDHR who committed themselves to defending those rights.

The Chinese government has forced more than one million Uighurs and members of other Muslim minority groups into internment camps in the Xinjiang region of China since April 2017. The recently leaked documents and allegations of forced labour, torture and other inhumane conditions in the camps belie the Chinese government’s claims that the purpose of the camps is education. Even those living outside the camps are robbed of any semblance of individual choice and freedom thanks to an ever-present surveillance system.

In Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, having plundered one of the wealthiest nations on earth, has caused nearly 20 per cent of the population to flee. The brutal repression of human rights continues to this day with credible reports of extrajudicial killings, torture and suppression of the freedoms of speech and association. Yet there are other major powers that continue to protect this regime.

In Iran, the regime’s unelected Supreme Leader prioritises encouraging regional chaos over improving the lives of the Iranian people. Even truck drivers and schoolteachers have been harassed and, by some reports, arrested and tortured just for asking to receive their paychecks. 

The Russian human rights organisation Memorial now lists 315 political prisoners in Russia, up from 195 last year, and reports that 200 of them have been imprisoned for exercising their freedom of religion or belief. The government increasingly restricts freedom of expression and internet freedom, and civil society and the independent press face constant harassment.

Since the adoption of the UDHR in 1948, there have been extraordinary accomplishments of human freedom that make the backsliding of these nations even more striking. Global interactivity is how today’s world has been able to flourish. Our interconnectedness promotes transparency, shared information and more open societies, ultimately. 

Look at the drafters of the UDHR. René Cassin was a Jewish Basque from France who later received the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on the UDHR. Charles Malik was a Maronite Christian from Lebanon who fled the Nazis in the 1930s, and China’s Peng Chun Chang brought a strong Confucian influence to the committee.

This month, we also commemorate International Migrants’ Day. More people than ever before are being pushed out of their countries of origin because of lack of resources, security or access to jobs, war or civil unrest, and the inability to provide for their families.

The danger that has emerged from Europe’s migrant crisis is that people have started to view them as the ‘other.’ Once you dehumanise someone just for the way they look or where they come from, it becomes easier to not see them as person, and then to isolate and marginalise them. 

The United States is committed to supporting the Maltese government’s efforts to integrate refugees and migrants into Maltese society. This year, the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Malta Foundation received $25,000 from the US Department of State’s Julia Taft Refugee Fund for a project that will provide better access to fair and stable employment for refugees and asylum seekers in Malta. 

The United States was founded on the principle that “all men are created equal and have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” – a concept that has been extended over time to include women and all members of society regardless of race, belief or any other criteria. 

Other open societies have similar concepts enshrined in their constitutions. Eleanor Roosevelt, who chaired the UDHR drafting committee, brought with her the ideals expressed in our Declaration of Independence that all persons are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights”.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights represents this ideal we see as universal and we will always continue to defend and promote human rights and the open societies that nurture them.

Mark A. Schapiro is the US Chargé d’Affaires.