Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

It took three years for members of the United Nations (UN) to reach agreement on just thirty articles that define specific rights and freedoms for all human beings.

On December 10th, 1948, the UN General Assembly adopted this comprehensive agreement and the United Nations Declaration gave human rights a new international legal status.

These thirty basic and universal rights were fought for by social justice movements around the world and advanced within the UN by progressive governments of the day.

Despite taking years to formulate and decades of existence, the struggle to ensure just entitlement of these thirty rights and freedoms requires our attention today and everyday.

• Read more about Human Rights Day 2006 at un.org.
• Read the PSAC Statement on International Human Rights Day at the national website.

Canadian governments must be held accountable by human rights activists and popular movements when any of the Universal Rights are violated.

The Canadian labour movement stands in solidarity with the women’s movement as they march on Parliament Hill today, demanding government demonstrate meaningful commitment to improving women’s rights and equality, to end the unjust decades of women’s economic insecurity, and to provide universal and accessible daycare.

Government actions like the reprehensible cuts made to Status of Women and closure of twelve offices across Canada, expose why the struggle to ensure that Article 1 – The Right to Equality, the first of thirty articles defined in the UN Declaration, requires daily vigilance.

Our human rights’ struggles are both national and global. The more than 200 million children involved in child labour, many of which are doing hazardous work, and the nearly 6 million children worldwide, suffering under forced or bonded labour, and the 1.2 million child victims of trafficking and the 300,000 thousand trapped and forced to serve as child soldiers each day stand as examples of our global need to defend Article 3 – The Right to Life, Liberty and Personal Security.

Human rights are also violated in more insidious ways, such as the federal government’s cancellation of the Court Challenges Program of Canada (CCP) that snatched away a vibrant tool that all Canadians had to seek The Right to Equality Before the Law (Article 7). For example, the Court Challenges Program has played a critical role in assisting Canadians with disabilities to promote their right to equality and to clarify government’s judicial obligations to protect human rights.

The struggles of Canadians – Maher Arar, Ahmad El Maati, Abdullah Almalki and Muayyed Nureddin – who suffered wrongful arrest, detention and torture and the security certificate detainees living for years in detention centers or under extreme house arrest conditions, epitomize why we must resist policies that hinder Article 10 – The Right to Fair and Public Hearings and Article 11 – The Right to be Considered Innocent Until Proven Guilty.

Workers’ rights are human rights as well. The lives of 115 trade unionists who were murdered, worldwide for defending workers’ rights in 2005, and the 1,600 who were violently assaulted, the 9,000 arrested, the 1,700 detained and the 10,000 who were sacked for trade union involvement each stood up for Article 23 – The Right to Desirable Work and to Join Trade Unions.

Each of the 100 million young workers worldwide, who face high unemployment and underemployment rates and who are more vulnerable to violence and hazards in the workplace due to lack of training or inexperience represent the on-going struggle to ensure we are all afforded Article 25 – The Right to an Adequate Standard of Living.

The Canadian Labour Congress, representing 3.2 million workers, recognizes that working to ensure each one of the thirty UN Declaration’s rights and freedoms requires daily vigilance, not just on this important day, but every day.

To learn more about the thirty articles in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, visit: http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html