2024-01-15 21:04:34
Vienna (PK) – December 10, 2023 marked the 75th anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). To mark this anniversary, the Austrian Parliament has placed a particular focus on human rights in recent weeks. This evening, the parliamentary leadership invited people to an event in the House to talk about milestones and successes, but also challenges in the area of human rights.
At the beginning of the event, the National Council Presidium spoke about the status of human rights today. Problem areas that still required attention were discussed, such as the opportunities for people with disabilities to participate in society or the problem of access to personal data through digital applications.
The keynote speech at the event was given by Elisabeth Hoffberger-Pippan from the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt. She explained the background to the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She also asked whether, in view of multiple crises, the 75th anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights offered any reason to celebrate. Global developments bring new human rights challenges, said Hoffberger-Pippan. She advocated paying attention to and honoring the many small steps taken by many people, which together could make a big difference in protecting human rights.
National Council Presidium: Human rights must be further developed
In a conversation moderated by journalist Corinna Milborn, the members of the Presidium of the National Council emphasized that despite all the progress there are still human rights areas in Austria that need to be paid attention to.
National Council President Wolfgang Sobotka emphasized Parliament’s role as an ambassador for human rights. For several weeks now, the House has been trying to draw the public’s attention to its importance through various campaigns, for example in the area of women’s rights or the situation of people with disabilities or by addressing minority rights. Parliament has set a good example when it comes to accessibility when renovating its historic building. The commitment to democracy and human rights also requires the fight against anti-Semitism. Here, for example, it is important to regulate digital media. It is important to ensure that people are not helpless at the mercy of algorithm-controlled platforms that spread misinformation and propaganda.
Second President of the National Council Doris Bures said that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights only concerns abstract issues at first glance. In fact, it is the basis of important political decisions and a compass of values. The rights formulated therein have often become so self-evident to us today that we only become aware of their significance when we try to restrict them. Bures recalled that in Austria, equal rights for women were by no means a given for her mother’s generation and that women’s rights have not been realized in many countries even today. Eleanor Roosevelt, who played a key role in drafting the UDHR, said that human rights are a place that cannot be found on any map, but that means the world to each and every individual.
Third President of the National Council Norbert Hofer pointed out that there is still a long way to go when it comes to the rights of people with disabilities. Wheelchair users and people with visual impairments are still faced with very specific hurdles in everyday life. New challenges would also arise from digital applications that collect data to an unprecedented extent and could use it to create detailed personality profiles. The use of artificial intelligence raises many questions for which answers must first be found. Science and politics have a duty to deal with these problems comprehensively.
The discussion by the National Council Presidium was interrupted by a protest by pro-Palestinian demonstrators. After the people had been led out of the National Council meeting room, National Council President Sobotka emphasized that Austria firmly stood by Israel’s right to self-defense. The spread of slogans that deny the State of Israel’s right to exist has nothing to do with freedom of expression, but is anti-Semitic propaganda that must be consistently countered.
Hoffberger-Pippan: December 10th – (not) a day to celebrate?
Given the world situation, it seems that December 10th is primarily a day for reflection, said Hoffberger-Pippan at the beginning of her speech. In 2022, 735 million people worldwide were considered undernourished. 125 million women and girls were affected by genital mutilation. Around two billion people worldwide did not have regular access to clean drinking water. Democracy and the rule of law appeared to be on the decline. In 2021, only 46 percent of the world’s population lived in democracies, compared to 50 percent in 2020.
Pippan recalled in detail the massive human rights violations caused by the mass internment of Uyghurs and other Muslim populations in China, where over a million men and women have been in re-education camps since 2017 and are subjected to forced labor, humiliation, torture and other forms of physical and psychological violence, including forced sterilization .
She also recalled the tens of thousands of civilians who have died since February 24, 2022 due to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and the terrible fate of many prisoners of war. On October 7, 2023, the attack by the terrorist militia Hamas marked the largest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust, with over 1,139 people murdered. In the Gaza Strip, thousands of civilians lost their lives.
Declaration of human rights under special circumstances
In view of the horror reports about human rights violations worldwide, the question arises: “So why do we celebrate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at all? Why are we not ashamed of what is happening in this world and what we all allow to a certain extent?” asked Hoffberger-Pippan. By looking into the past, she attempted to provide a differentiated approach to answering these questions.
In 1946, just a year after the end of World War II, the UN Commission on Human Rights was founded to draft the UDHR. At the time of its adoption on December 10, 1948, the memory of the terrible events, atrocities and crimes during the Second World War was still very present in people’s minds. At the same time, the geopolitical environment in which numerous states were still under colonial rule was very different from today.
Since then, the development of human rights has by no means been linear, but it shows many positive aspects, said the speaker. Many things have improved in recent decades, such as the child mortality rate, the literacy rate and medical care. The UDHR represents “the documented initial spark for greater human rights awareness” and reflects an unprecedented willingness of the international community to agree on a canon of human rights.
Not all of the then 58 UN member states voted in favor of the declaration. Eight states, including the then South African Union, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, abstained from voting, and two UN members, Honduras and Yemen, did not take part in the vote. For Hoffberger-Pippan, not only the voting behavior of the voting states, but also the regional representativeness of the UN committee raises questions. Only one woman, Eleanor Roosevelt, was represented in it.
About two thirds of the rights enshrined in the 30 articles of the UDHR are first generation human rights, i.e. liberal rights of defense against the state. In addition to the right to life, they also include the prohibition of torture and the right to property. Other rights include second-generation human rights, primarily social rights such as the right to work or the right to health or education. While one should in no way undermine the importance of the human rights of the first generation, the question still arises as to whether the text would have looked different and included more provisions on economic, social and cultural rights if the Preparatory Committee had been made up more broadly. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights does not include third generation rights that can only be exercised collectively, such as the right of self-determination of peoples. Minority rights are also not mentioned in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, said Hoffberger-Pippan.
The UDHR’s claim to be universal raises the question of a universal understanding of human rights. The UDHR itself addresses vulnerable groups of people quite differently. Asylum seekers are protected by the UDHR, while protective provisions for people with disabilities are conspicuously missing, which is surprising, not least because of the Nazi regime’s abhorrent treatment of disabled people in “Aktion T4”. Children were at least partially protected by the UDHR, but women and mothers received little special protection. At this point, Hoffberger-Pippan recalled the tragic fate of hundreds of women who suffered violence or even death for violating so-called “good morals”, such as 16-year-old Armita Geravand, who died in Iran at the end of last year after a confrontation died with the moral police.
All in all, however, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is undoubtedly a great civilizational and human rights achievement, said Hoffberger-Pippan. Although not legally binding itself, it largely reflects customary international law. After and through it, numerous other human rights treaties came into being, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Dissolution of borders brings new challenges for the protection of human rights
In order to understand the UDHR, it is also worth taking a look at the upheavals in society as a whole in recent years, which Hoffberger-Pippan referred to under the term “dissolution of boundaries”. This includes the increasingly larger role of internationally operating, transnational companies, for example in maintaining or guaranteeing labor law standards. Our society is also subject to major changes in terms of digitalization. The use of AI, for example for military purposes, raises the question of whether one wants to live in a world in which machines decide about life and death. Climate change offers another example of increasing blurring of boundaries.
When asked whether one should be proud of the UDHR and celebrate it despite current events, Hoffberger-Pippan answered in the affirmative. The UDHR is “definitely a civilizational achievement.” In addition, it is doubtful whether a similarly comprehensive document could even be adopted under current circumstances. In view of the problems and challenges, the increase in social polarization and political populism, it is even more important to protect human rights.
Hoffberger-Pippan made a plea for the “many small steps that, taken together, can achieve great things.” These include people who work in healthcare, in educational institutions, in violence protection centers and other social institutions. In a more confrontational world, the supposedly small contribution of each individual is important for the protection and preservation of human rights. “Tolerance for other views, for other ways of life and opinions are essential in a democratic society if you are serious about human rights, and especially the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” the speaker concluded. (continued) sox
NOTE: Photos from this event as well as a review of past events can be found on the Parliament’s web portal.
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