Human Rights Day — December 10th
We’ve all heard about Human Rights — but do we understand them?
Every year, on December 10th, the world celebrates Human Rights Day. A day to honour the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) — originally adopted on December 10th, 1948. I’m by no means an expert on this, but in my limited understanding, this document was brought about, at least in part, due to the First and Second World Wars and the horrific crimes against humanity that occurred.
Now, over 70 years later, I am learning about the UDHR. A document of this kind of importance I, as a forty-year-old woman and community leader, should be familiar with. So why am I not?
I was born almost 33 years after the document was signed. I was not taught about this document in school — at any level. I had never even heard of it! Other than knowing the term ‘Human Rights and having a broad idea of what the term meant, I had never proactively sought to educate myself, and no one else was stepping up to do so. To me, ‘Human Rights’ are a common-sense ideology. The idea that, as humans, we deserve the right to be respected, live in safety, and live in freedom.
I’m sure some jaws are dropping.
Being Canadian, the idea of having my Human Rights stripped from me is a concept too bizarre to even imagine. Growing up and watching the Berlin Wall fall, or the Gulf War or tanks moving through Tiananmen Square were almost mythical — they were happening in areas of the globe so far away it was hard to comprehend that these places were on the same planet as my world.
That is until the Twin Towers fell.
September 11, 2001, started like any other day for me. I was in my second year of university and was not quite twenty years old yet. I woke up a little late, having been out late the night before and not having my first class until early afternoon.
At the time, I lived in a house with three other girls. I was the only one sitting on our couch when I turned the television on. I had a bowl of Cheerios in front of me, and it just happened to be turned to a news channel. I watched as smoke billowed from a skyscraper, and I remember thinking that it didn’t look good.
In all honesty, I don’t know if I saw the second plane hit or if I’ve just seen it so many times in the years since that I began to believe I saw it live. In any case, the second plane hit and I tried to find a channel that had better coverage — something important was happening.
I watched as the first tower fell, then the second. I watched as broadcasters began to speak of a plane hitting the pentagon, and another had crashed into a Pennsylvania field. I called home, scared for my friends and family in Niagara. I called other friends — knowing they had family in New York City. For the first time in my life, I heard a term that would become only too familiar — terrorist.
Later that day, I was crossing the main concourse on campus and stopped to watch the television in the atrium. For the third time that day, I watched as another building fell — 7 World Trade Center. I, and dozens of my fellow students, stood together at that moment. Some were sobbing. Some were pulling out their flip phones to call home. Some just stood and watched, with glazed looks on their faces.
For days, if not weeks, I was glued to the television — watching as my world forever changed.
For the first time, I was wholly aware of how protected I was in my part of the world. I was wholly aware of just how lucky I am to be Canadian. I was horrified by what I was watching, and terrified for those living through the events and aftermath of 9/11.
It had never occurred to me, before 9/11, that any human being did not believe in the basic rights of respect, safety, and freedom. It had certainly never occurred to me that people were living in this world that did not have these basic rights.
Over the next 20+ years of my life, my opinion has not changed — there is no human being born that does not deserve the basic rights of respect, safety, and freedom. Of course, the actions of people can alter this, in extreme circumstances.
70+ years after the first Human Rights Day, we live in a world where many of us do not know what the term ‘Human Rights’ actually means. Especially in North America. If you are, like I was, one of those people — consider yourself lucky to live in such ignorance.
However, despite being ignorant to the UDHR, I was/am a person that has a basic belief that everyone deserves to be treated with respect. That, despite your station in life, you deserve to be treated as a human being. You deserve this simply because you exist.
If you’re as unaware as I was, or simply intrigued to learn more, I suggest you go to https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights and read up on the UDHR. The document is clear and concise — thirty articles that state what human rights are.
In my opinion, they are all summed up in the first sentence of Article 1 — “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”.
ALL HUMAN BEINGS.
PERIOD.
Until next time…………………………………………. XO-JGF
Let’s connect! Email me at hello@jessicagalefriesen.com!
#HumanRights #Respect #Diversity #Inclusion
