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  Refugees from Rwanda get medical care at a camp dispensary in Tanzania. In many ways, the twentieth century has been the bloodiest 100-year period in human history. While developments in technology and communications have meant improvements in the lives of many, the century has also seen a rise in the emergence of weapons of mass destruction. Killing can be planned and executed many miles away from the victims so that the killers no longer need to see the blood and misery caused by their destructive actions. And while we well may be indignant about United Nations' weapons inspectors' being denied entry into Iraq, we must keep in mind that, in all the world, the United States maintains the most significant and diverse arsenal of weapons. |
Definition of Human Rights: "Human rights are the rights and freedoms that allow us to fully develop and use our human qualities, our intelligence, our talents, and our conscience and to satisfy our spiritual and other needs. They belong to everyone and are the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family." |
The need for the world to codify the rights of human beings arose after World War II, when much of Europe was left in ruins. Church organizations were in the process of ministering to millions of refugees created by the war. The world struggled with the fact that 6 million Jews (and numberless other persons deemed undesirable by the Hitler regime) had been rounded up, tortured, starved, denied all their rights to be human beings walking the earth, and finally murdered en mass. But the bodies lying in the pits were definitely human. The world was horrified. |
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Officials from mainline church denominations began to meet together at that time to understand what had happened and to seek ways for the nations of the world to communicate with one another. Churches took the lead in establishing a worldwide forum so that the nations of the world could resolve their differences before conflicts escalated into catastrophic wars. In 1944, the Federal Council of Churches--the predecessor organization of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States--created the Commission to Study the Bases of a Just and Durable Peace. John Foster Dulles chaired the commission. Walter W. VanKirk, Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam, Ernest Tittle, Georgia Harkness, and John R. Mott were some of the Methodists who served on it. The commission issued the "Six Pillars of Peace," begun in 1943. Among other things, this document called for the creation of a United Nations structure to assure peace among the nations. The Six Pillars of Peace became part of the discussions that led to the chartering of the United Nations. |  New York City, March 1, 1999: Members of the New York Conference protest the shooting by police of an unarmed African immigrant from Ghana, Amadou Diallo. |
| Church leaders also played a key role in adopting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. The World Council of Churches asked that a joint commission be formed--the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs- -as part of the permanent system for consultation between the UN and nongovernmental organizations. With the help of Eleanor Roosevelt, this commission pressed for the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and provided article 18, which called for religious freedom. |
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"I ponder the long years of struggle and pain courageous people have suffered in achieving each hard-won gain for human rights. Elites who wield exploitative power never willingly surrender it. The road to human dignity is lined with persons of uncommon vision and incredible courage. At great personal risk, they challenged demonic systems of discrimination and oppression."
|  Refugees forced to leave Kosovo by train, then dumped near the frontier by Serbian authorities, walk along the railway tracks to reach the border crossing into Macedonia (March 30-31,1999) |
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Although the idea of universal human rights has gained wide acceptance over the past 50 years, human-rights violations continue to occur. A quick glance at the headlines of a newspaper confirms this point. Kosovo and East Timor provide numerous examples, but a growing number of human-rights advocates also point to violations much closer to home. In 1998, Amnesty International introduced a human-rights investigation of the United States. It asked that the United States adhere to the common principles stated in the Universal Declaration. The report cited police brutality, torture and abuse of prisoners, lengthy jail sentences for poor people and for members of racial and ethnic minorities, and incarceration of asylum seekers as being among the violations practiced in the United States. It also urged the United States to abolish the death penalty and to ratify human-rights agreements that it has thus far refused to sign. These agreements include the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights; the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women; and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. |
| 1. Right to human dignity and equality
2. Freedom from discrimination 3. Right to life, liberty, and personal security 4. Freedom from slavery 5. Freedom from torture or degrading treatment 6. Right to recognition as a person before the law 7. Right to equality before the law 8. Right to remedy by competent tribunal 9. Freedom from arbitrary arrest or exile 10. Right to a fair public hearing 11. Right to be considered innocent until proved guilty 12. Freedom from interference with privacy, family, home, and correspondence 13. Right to free movement in and out of the country 14. Right to asylum in other countries to escape persecution 15. Right to a nationality and freedom to change it |
16. Right to marriage and family
17. Right to own property 18. Freedom of belief and religion. 19. Freedom of opinion and information 20. Right of peaceful assembly and association 21. Right to participate in government and free elections 22. Right to social security 23. Right to desirable work and to join trade unions 24. Right to rest and leisure 25. Right to an adequate living standard 26. Right to education 27. Right to participate in the cultural life of a community 28. Right to a social order that assures human rights 29. Freedom to perform community duties that are essential to personal development 30. Freedom from state or personal interference in the above rights. Adapted from Human Rights USA |
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Churches are still very much involved in the struggle for human rights. The National Council of Churches has produced a study guide for churches, Pillars of Peace for the 21st Century. The study, based on the 1943 "Six Pillars of Peace," looks at how a new vision of the United Nations and world community would meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. The guide is designed to help congregations think about how to find their own role in supporting and building global peace with justice.
Pillars of Peace for the 21st Century lifts up seven pillars, adding one on the environment. The pillars advocate increasing political collaboration and accountability, building an international legal system, improving economic conditions, standing with the vulnerable and marginalized, building a culture of peace, protecting human rights, and improving and preserving the environment.
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"A layperson in the New York Conference was upset when he learned that his pastor had been arrested (for demonstrating against the apartheid system in South Africa). He said: 'I was going to complain to the District Superintendent, but I found out he was arrested too. Then I was going to complain to the bishop, but even he got arrested.'
"Walter Wink and I were arrested together for praying at the White House. This was the second time I had been arrested in demonstrating against the apartheid system in South Africa. It was while we were sitting handcuffed on the bus that Walter Wink patiently explained to me that an act of civil disobedience is not primarily a political act, although it may issue in political change. It is an exorcism! It is a naming of the demons, the first step toward exposing them and stripping away their power to deceive, as Jesus revealed."
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Within this issue of New World Outlook are a few individual stories of some "hot spots" of human-rights activity. These include places where violations are severe and places where the courage and sacrifice of common people bring hope to the struggles throughout the world. These are also places where The United Methodist Church and its partners have become involved in the ministry of human rights, basing their actions on John 10:10, in which Jesus says: "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." As disciples of Jesus, we are called to do all that we can so that all God's people may have life, and have it abundantly."
Jose Ramos-Horte, the East Timor human-rights activist who shared the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize, visits youth at a "Peace Jam" at First United Methodist Church, Vancouver, Washington. Photo by Christie R. House |
| Resources for Human Rights Study
Pillars of Peace for the 21st Century, by Patricia Rumer, is available from the National Council of Churches' Peace with Justice Week, International Justice and Human Rights Office. Cost: $4.00. A 47-minute video is also available for $6.00, or $8.00 for the set. Order: phone: 212-870-2424; fax: 212-870-2055; e-mail: pwjw@ncccusa.org Christian Social Action, December 1998: "A Special Issue Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights." Cost: $1.50. Order from the General Board of Church and Society: 202-488-5618. Making a Just Peace: Human Rights and Domination Systems, by C. Dale White, is available from Cokesbury. Cost: $11.00. Order: 800-251-3320. |
Christie R. House is the Associate Editor of New World Outlook.
Text and photographs copyright 1999 by New World Outlook: The Mission Magazine of The United Methodist Church. Used by Permission. Visit New World Outlook Online at http://gbgm-umc.org/nwo/.
For reprint permission, contact New World Outlook by E-mail at nwo@gbgm-umc.org.
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