70th anniversary Universal Declaration of Human Rights: What went wrong? #HumanRightsDay

Human rights or human wrongs. Today is the day that the UN adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”

Born after the ashes of World War II and established to ensure that a Holocaust would never happen again, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights will turn 70 today.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 (General Assembly resolution 217 A) as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. It sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected and it has been translated into over 500 languages.

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So what happened?

The Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam.

The Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (CDHRI) is a declaration of the Muslim member states of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference adopted in Cairo, Egypt, on 5 August 1990, (Conference of Foreign Ministers, 9–14 Muharram 1411H in the Islamic calendar^[2]) which provides an overview on the Islamic perspective on human rights, and affirms Islamic sharia as its sole source.

This declaration is widely acknowledged as an Islamic response to the United Nations‘s Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted in 1948.

It should never have been adopted by a civilized world body.

The OIC, Bat Ye’or argues, is nothing less than a “would-be, universal caliphate.” It might look different from the caliphates of the Ottomans, Fatimids, and Abbasids. It might resemble, instead, a thoroughly modern trans-national bureaucracy. But, already, the OIC exercises significant power through the United Nations, and through the European Union, which has been eager to accommodate the OIC while simultaneously endowing the U.N. with increasing authority for global governance.

Bat Yeor explains:

The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) is a religious and political organization. Close to the Muslim World League of the Muslim Brotherhood, it shares the Brotherhood’s strategic and cultural vision: that of a universal religious community, the Ummah, based upon the Koran, the Sunna, and the canonical orthodoxy of shari’a. The OIC represents 56 countries and the Palestinian Authority (considered a state), the whole constituting the universal Ummah with a community of more than one billion three to six hundred million Muslims.

The OIC has a unique structure among nations and human societies. The Vatican and the various churches are de facto devoid of political power, even if they take part in politics, because in Christianity, as in Judaism, the religious and political functions have to be separated. Asian religions, too, do not represent systems that bring together religion, strategy, politics, and law within a single organizational structure.

The legendary human rights activist David Littman explains the disastrous Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam :

3. On 5 August 1990, the then 45 member states of the OIC adopted The Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam. In this document all rights are seen as derived from Allah. The preamble states that “no one as a matter of principle has the right to suspend them in whole or in part or violate or ignore them in as much as they are binding divine commandments”.

4. At the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna, Iran, supported by several other Islamic States, pressed for the acceptance of the Cairo Declaration as an alternative to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This objective was partly achieved in 1997 when the Cairo Declaration was included by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights as the last document in Human Rights: A Compilation of International Instruments: Volume II: Regional Instruments

[…]

15. The Cairo Declaration goes further however in making this freedom subject to the Shari’ah. Under Article 22 of the Cairo Declaration a person may only express their opinion in a manner “as would not be contrary to the principles of the Shari’ah”, and freedom of expression may not be used to “weaken faith”.
16. On 18 December 2007, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution “Combating Defamation of Religions” by 108 votes to 51 with 25 abstentions. Similar resolutions had been adopted since 1999 by the Commission for Human Rights and by the new Council. This was the first time however that such a resolution had been passed by the General Assembly. The resolution expresses once again “deep concern about the negative stereotyping of religions and manifestations of intolerance and discrimination in matters of religion or belief”. But the only religion mentioned by name is Islam. The resolution emphasizes that whilst everyone has the right to freedom of expression, this should be exercised with responsibility – and may therefore be subject to limitations, inter alia, “for respect for religions and beliefs”.

17. Many delegations, however, opposed the resolution. The Portuguese delegate, speaking for the European Union, explained clearly why:

“The European Union does not see the concept of ‘defamation of religions’ as a valid one in a human rights discourse. From a human rights perspective, members of religious or belief communities should not be viewed as parts of homogenous entities. International human rights law protects primarily individuals in the exercise of their freedom of religion or belief, rather than the religions as such.”

18. Notwithstanding these objections, those opposing the resolution found themselves on the losing side of a two-to-one majority in favour.

How the Shari’ah limits Human Rights

9. Under Shari’ah law, Muslim women and non-Muslims are not accorded equal treatment with Muslim men. The Shari’ah, therefore, fails to honour the right to equality guaranteed under the UDHR and the international covenants, and thus denies the full enjoyment of their human rights to those living in States which follow Shari’ah law.

10. By limiting rights to those permitted by the Shari’ah the Cairo Declaration, rather than complementing the UDHR and the international covenants, undermines many of the rights they are supposed to guarantee. (See references 6 7 8 for additional documentation on this issue.)

Limiting Religious Freedom

11. Religious freedom is limited under the Cairo Declaration. Article 10 states: “Islam is the religion of unspoiled nature. It is prohibited to exercise any form of compulsion on man or to exploit his poverty or ignorance in order to convert him to another religion or to atheism.”

Since it is a generally accepted view in the Islamic world that only compulsion or ignorance would lead anyone to abandon Islam, conversion from Islam is thus effectively forbidden.

12. It is notable that under Shari’ah law in many countries apostasy and any actions or statements considered blasphemous are harshly punished, in some States by death.

13. At the 6th session of the Human Rights Council in December 2007, the European Union tabled a resolution on the elimination of discrimination based on religion or belief.

On December 14, the Pakistani delegate, again speaking for the OIC, said that differences remained in the wording of this resolution on, inter alia, respect for all religions and beliefs, and respect for national laws and religious norms about the right to change one’s religion. “Hence, we dissociate ourselves from operative paragraph 9 (a) because of its phrase ‘including the right to change one’s religion or belief’”. Yet this fundamental human right is clearly guaranteed under Article 18 of the UDHR and Article 18 of the ICCPR.

Ironically, the 70th anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights highlights the freedom of expression. The world body now works feverishly to impose the speech restrictions under the sharia, so this focus is deceitful and absurd. The OIC has relentlessly pursued resolutions on restrictions on free speech for decades. Their latest report is a declaration of holy war against freedom of speech and ….. freedom.

The Obama administration signed on to the Cairo declaration.

Throughout her four years as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton was Obama’s point-person in the administration’s collusion with the OIC. Among the most significant “achievements” of this partnership — and, from a constitutional perspective, the most appalling one — has been the adoption of Resolution 16/18. In blatant violation of the First Amendment, this provision calls on Western governments to outlaw any speech that “constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence” toward religion, on the rationale that such speech could provoke “religious hatred.” (more here)

Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration signed on to U.N. Human Rights Council Resolution 16/18, which mandates the suppression of speech that could cast Islam in a bad light — regardless of whether the speech is accurate or the negative impression it creates is justified.

Human Rights Day 2017: What Is Universal Declaration Of Human Rights

NDTV, December 10, 1017:

Human Rights Day is observed every year on 10 December – the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted, in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This year, according to the United Nations – intergovernmental organization tasked to promote international cooperation and to create and maintain international order -, Human Rights Day kicks off a year-long campaign to mark the upcoming 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a milestone document that proclaimed the inalienable rights which everyone is inherently entitled to as a human being – regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights or UDHR is the most translated document in the world, available in more than 500 languages, says United Nations.

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Human Rights Day is observed every year on 10 December

Drafted by representatives of diverse legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the UDHR sets out universal values and a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations. It establishes the equal dignity and worth of every person.

“The Universal Declaration of Human Rights empowers us all. The principles enshrined in the Declaration are as relevant today as they were in 1948. We need to stand up for our own rights and those of others. We can take action in our own daily lives, to uphold the rights that protect us all and thereby promote the kinship of all human beings,” un.org says.

Human Rights Day 2017: Universal Declaration Of Human Rights

UDHR was adopted by United Nations General Assembly at its third session on 10 December 1948 as Resolution 217, when, of the then 58 members of the United Nations, 48 voted in favor, none against, eight abstained, and two did not vote.
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