DIRECTOR-GENERAL’S MESSAGE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS DAY

Paris, December 7 (No.2000-135) - On the occasion of Human Rights Day, celebrated on December 10, UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura issued a message stressing the importance of education to “acquire wider awareness of universal human rights” and instil respect for, and tolerance of, others.

Here is the full text of the message:

“Human Rights Day was proclaimed half a century ago, but as we observe this date, at a millennial turn of the calendar, this is no occasion for celebration. The persistent violation of basic human rights anywhere on this earth effectively means that they are being denied to us all: because human rights are universal. They cannot be divided. Wherever injustice degrades an individual, or group, of our human family, it necessarily affects us all.

“States have committed themselves legally to respect, defend and promote human rights. But human rights depend on each and all. Concerned individuals, non-governmental organisations, institutions and civil society at large, need to help make human rights a living reality. Every one of us is a sentinel.

“Today we consider extreme poverty, gender discrimination, social and cultural oppression to be offences comparable to the violation of freedom of thought and expression. We also regard the denial of education, of a decent standard of living, of individual integrity and social dignity, of individuals’ right to develop their creative potential fully as unacceptable outrages that must be addressed.

“The achievement of these rights necessarily brings to the fore the need to respect further rights. All rights are, in the deepest sense, inter-linked. Poverty breeds the despair on which hatred and violence thrive. An adequate livelihood goes far to encourage tolerance - hence respect for the rights of others.

“Education is an eloquent case in point. Education in itself recognised as a human right must absolutely be made available to all, with no restriction based on gender, class, ethnic group, or creed. Moreover, it is through education that each and every one of us may from childhood on acquire wider awareness of universal human rights and abiding respect and tolerance for others. UNESCO's commitment to education is a central pillar of its mandate. The United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education, extending from 1995 to 2004, provides a further opportunity to UNESCO, with its partners, to promote a genuine culture of human rights through a variety of educational programmes in both formal and informal settings.

“The march towards fuller human rights cannot suffer a pause. The attainment of human rights is not a state, but a continuous process, an ideal to be pursued relentlessly. Gains in this area should never be taken for granted. There can be terrible slides backwards. The century whose passing we mark this very year saw at once the greatest breakthroughs, but also some of the most appalling outrages, possibly the worst in history. The struggle for human rights requires constant vigilance. We must realise the need to keep watch this day, and every day.”

 

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