International discourse on human rights sometimes degenerates
into hollow ideological jostling because perceptions of civil
rights and freedoms are too divergent between countries and
cultures.
When one party fixates on one aspect and the other on another,
we can hardly expect meaningful dialogue.
This year's human rights day theme, "Fighting poverty: A matter
of obligation, not charity," however, is one all governments,
regardless of culture or system, can share.
In his personal message on yesterday's International Human
Rights Day, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan describes
the campaign to make poverty history "a central moral challenge of
our time."
Alleviating poverty deserves such emphasis because of the simple
truth that subsistence is the very precondition to all other rights
and freedoms.
"Each of us should understand that the rights set out in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights are of little value to the
millions of people in this world who are haunted by disease and
starvation, so long as they have no effective remedies," states the
UN Secretary-General. "We must all recognize that wherever entire
families eke out an existence on less than a dollar a day, or
children die for lack of basic yet life-saving care, the
declaration has, at best, a hollow ring."
Instead of high-sounding rhetoric, and valueless finger-pointing
in particular, all governments should commit themselves to
down-to-earth efforts to help anguished families and
individuals.
For its essential prominence on the ladder of human needs, a
decent standard of living should be an outstanding priority on the
agenda of all national governments.
For all the economic wonders it has worked, globalization has at
the same time created or widened wealth gaps within and between
countries. That is why the United Nations Development Programme, in
its own observance of yesterday's human rights day, laments that
"economic growth alone does not guarantee wider human
development."
The unequal nature of current global growth, as the UNDP message
terms it, calls for aggressive governmental actions to prevent the
already wide development gaps from broadening.
The misconception of national leaders that their countries can
be run largely as economic entities is harmful exactly because it
neglects such essential social concerns as equality and
fairness.
Growth in gross domestic product (GDP), a popular traditional
yardstick of development, is meaningless unless it goes hand in
hand with policies that orientate it towards human development.
In many countries, the biggest challenge is not the lack of
potential for growth, but that the fruits of progress cannot be
shared in a fair manner.
Even from the perspective of sustainable growth, governments
must enshrine freedom from poverty as a basic human right, and make
sure there is a corresponding degree of satisfaction as the
country's GDP strides forward.
(China Daily December 11, 2006)