We must not be discouraged by setbacks
Professor Michael Krennerich on the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
75 years ago in December 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. FAU Professor Dr. Michael Krennerich, Member of the Board of Directors of the Centre of Human Rights Erlangen-Nürnberg (CHREN), explains the challenges the protection of human rights is faced with today.
Which problems and challenges are currently affecting the protection of human rights today?
The challenges are varied: Terrorism and war across the globe bring immeasurable suffering to those affected and are accompanied by serious human rights violations and war crimes. In many countries, autocrats severely limit the liberties of the civil population by discrediting, persecuting and victimizing groups that criticize the regime and call for more freedom. We are being swamped with hate speech, propaganda and disinformation which has an adverse effect on the peaceful coexistence within and between societies. This is in addition to climate change, which heightens existing crises and has far-reaching consequences particularly for human rights in housing, food, water supply and health. The list could go on and on, unfortunately.
Authoritarian regimes care little about human rights and several states openly question their universality. What are the consequences of this for international order?
While autocrats may not care much about human rights, they certainly care about the criticism regarding violations of human rights. For this reason, they discredit and persecute those who criticize the situation regarding human rights in their country, often preventing them from making contact with people abroad, and do not tolerate outside involvement of any kind. In some cases, dissidents are even threatened abroad. At the same time, autocrats try to weaken human rights standards that have already been established in UN committees. Together, they ward off any criticism of human rights violations and accuse “the West” of creating double standards and violating human rights themselves. These developments are all very worrying. In order to oppose the counter-strategies and counter-arguments of autocrats somewhat, it is important that we are careful to implement human rights ourselves, to seek out allies in the “global south” and to support all those across the world who put themselves in grave danger while fighting injustice, such as the courageous women in Iran.
“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” This is how Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights begins. What about the implementation of human rights today?
We have achieved a great deal during the last 75 years. Women’s rights and the expansion of anti-discrimination rights are two examples. Don’t forget that for a long time, women in Germany were not allowed to work without their husband’s permission and homosexuality was illegal. However, the hopes of the last years of the 20th century for the implementation of human rights across the globe have not become a reality. The existing problems and the new ones that have arisen are just too serious. On the other hand, we must not allow ourselves to be discouraged by the setbacks of the early 21st century such as the resurgence of autocrats and right-wing populists. The political and emancipatory role of human rights is and continues to be all the more important.
Contact
Prof. Dr. Michael Krennerich
Director of Research at the Centre for Human Rights Erlangen-Nürnberg (CHREN)