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... ...Universal Declaration of Human Rights, December 10, 1948 -- "A Cause for Celebration" ... 'Demands of Dignity' 'Demands of Dignity' <DEVELOPING THE DISCOURSE ON OUR DECEMBER 1Oth DECLARATION>
On-Line Edition of the Book by Ed Aurelio C. Reyes Foreword -- Human Dignity, Human Rights, and Historical Accountability |
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CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK:
Response
to the Spanish Response
Response to the American Non-Response
Demands of Dignity EXCERPTS: -o0o- "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signed Dec. 10, 1948, has been a cause of celebration, and the Treaty of Paris, signed Dec. 10, 1898, has been a cause for indignation... on the part of ALL HUMANS." -o0o- "The HUMANITY of ALL is ONE! Assaults on the Rights of a human anywhere are assaults on the rights of all humans everywhere." -o0o- "The current Human Evolutionary Imperative is attaining Synergy in Conscious Oneness." -o0o- "We demand apologies not to uphold our national dignity, but to give the offenders the opportunity to uphold theirs." -o0o- "Demands for Human Dignity come from within Human Dignity itself." -o0o- "We seek redress, closure and healing... Since the governments involved and the international organizations that depend on the consent of governments cannot be expected to support these calls or accord them any serious attention, we are calling upon the citizens of these and other nations, on the citizenry of the world." -o0o- "One of the factors underpinning the habit of trying to hide or mangle the truth is the illusion that facts hidden well enough as secrets can stay as such forever. Another is the illusion that you can harm your fellow-humans without harming yourself." -o0o- "Inevitably, eventually and ultimately, all wrongs cry out to be fully acknowledged, regretted, and set aright. Your peace of mind now and in the future demands it. Your very dignity demands it." -o0o- "Smile for Synergy! Seek One Humanity!"
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LINKS TO THE MAIN PARTS OF THE Demands of Dignity BOOK:
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Foreword ----------------- Human Dignity, Human Rights, and Historical Accountability
By Mr. Max de Mesa (PAHRA was the human rights formation that teamed up with Kamalaysayan ten years ago to produce the "Philippine Declaration of Felicitation and Protest" that celebrated the UDHR of 1948 and demanded apologies from Spain and the US for signing the TP of 1898.) AFTER 60 years from the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on December 10, 1948, the discourse on human rights has gone a long way. The international community has been articulating since then a common standard for human dignity. The historic document had given this sense of dignity as expressed in human rights the push to evolve and respond to the concrete issues pertaining to the struggles of peoples in whose name the members of the United Nations was established. The UDHR, a document of aspiration, gave birth to two legally-binding human rights instruments – the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). The three documents then became what are now known as the International Bill of Rights. All the rights enshrined are inherent in each one for being human. All of these rights are for all, for everyone everywhere. Since then, other human rights instruments were internationally forged to respond to specific sectors and needs. Addressing the sectors’ situations, there is, for example, the Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Convention for the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Convention on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and others respond to the needs of the elderly and of the disabled. In the thematic field, among others, there are the Convention Against Torture (CAT) and the Convention Against Enforced Disappearance. The understanding
of human rights and how to implement them have also evolved for better
compliance primarily by States as seen in the issuance by U.N.
independent experts of what is known as General Comments. It is in this
context that the author of this book, Demands of Dignity: Developing the
Discourse on the Philippine December 10th Declaration a Decade After,
challenges the present human rights discourse with a historical sense
and sensitivity for dignity. And consistently demands that so should it be in the rape of Nanking. Otherwise, dignity will continuously be limitedly and/or self-servingly defined by the victors of a war, by dictators or by authoritarian rulers. And consequently justice if ever will be selectively applied. The perpetration of a historical injustice and the consequent perpetuation of its “benefits” must be halted and corrected. This foreword is written in a special historical circumstance: the election of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States of America. It is a significant fruit of a long struggle for equality and a sense of justice. Among others, it seeks to rectify the injustice and violations of human rights done in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. The author challenges our sense of time in relation to human rights. How far can we appropriately and effectively reach out from the past to correct the present and to work together for common dignity in the future? The people’s struggles inform and reshape the human rights discourse not only its language but its content as well. To be effective and relevant, human rights defenders from the concerned parties must thus engage in solidarity with those who struggle for their dignity and rights. The people in turn must engage the duty-holders, as well as all claim-holders, of human rights to ensure that they all enjoy the full implementation of these rights and obtain dignity for all concerned.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS: Demands of Dignity THE HARDCOPY EDITION, in about 180 regular sized bookpaper pages with full-color paperback cover FREE ACCESS FOR ALL to the ON-LINE EDITION until February. 4, 2009, 110th Anni- versary of the Fil-Am War.
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