Human Rights Declaration & Burmese Freedom

Human Rights Declaration Is a Call to Support Burmese Freedom

In President Bush's September 25 speech to the 62nd United Nations General Assembly, he called for renewed efforts to enforce the organization's Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and cited the situation in Burma where the government severely restricts basic freedoms such as speech, assembly and worship and persecutes many of its citizens.

Bush said each member of the United Nations is required to join in what he called a "mission of liberation" to "free people from tyranny and violence, hunger and disease, illiteracy and ignorance, and poverty and despair."

In the days since the president's remarks, Burma's military government has begun a violent crackdown against the largest pro-democracy movement the country has seen in nearly 20 years, with reports of soldiers shooting, clubbing and arresting peaceful demonstrators, and cutting off phone and Internet access.

Bush referenced the first article of the UDHR, which says "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights," as part of his argument that "[e]very civilized nation ... has a responsibility to stand up for the people suffering under dictatorship."

Whereas Americans traditionally have used documents in their own history, such as the 1776 Declaration of Independence and the 1791 Bill of Rights, to hold their government accountable for safeguarding their rights, the UDHR is a document all people can cite when their countries fail to honor human rights standards. (See related article.)

The document states in its preamble that the legal protection of human rights is essential "if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression." It also proclaims the declaration to be a "common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations."

Unlike the 1976 International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and Economic Social and Cultural Rights, the UDHR is not a treaty and therefore carries no binding legal commitment on U.N. member states. Nevertheless, as Australian human rights expert Peter Bailey argues, it has become an internationally accepted set of standards.

"When countries such as Burma, Argentina, China and the former Yugoslavia feel bound to defend themselves when they are accused of being in breach of the UDHR, then it can be said to have achieved an important political and moral status," Bailey said in an article published on the universalrights.net Web site.

Every December 10, the date of the UDHR's 1948 adoption, is recognized as Human Rights Day, and it is marked by the international community, civil society groups and dissidents around the world.

Secretly observing the most recent Human Rights Day in 2006, the Burmese group Human Rights Defenders and Promoters issued a statement to international supporters saying it was "hoping for the best and prepar[ing] for the worst."

"We dare to face everything for human rights. So we need the recognition of the international community, especially the United Nations," the group said.

The call from the Burmese opposition for outside support in its struggle is not new. In a 1997 speech smuggled out of the country, Nobel Prize laureate and leader of the National League for Democracy Party Aung San Suu Kyi called on those living in free societies and enjoying full political rights to "[p]lease use your liberty to promote ours," saying the "deeply-rooted human need for a meaningful existence" is understood by "thinking and feeling people everywhere."

Along with expressing support for Burma's pro-democracy activists and urging countries with ties to the junta to pressure the government against using violence, the Bush administration on September 27 tightened sanctions against the military government.

The sanctions froze the U.S. assets of 14 senior Burmese officials and prohibited Americans from doing business with them. (See related text.)

"The president has made clear that we will not stand by as the regime tries to silence the voices of the Burmese people through repression and intimidation," Adam Szubin, the Department of Treasury's director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, said in a statement.

For more stories on U.S. policy, see U.S. Support for Democracy in Burma. See also the full text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State)

ENDS

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