Sixty years ago on December 10, mankind got a Christmas gift in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the UN. This was presaged in history by varied guides to human conduct in analects of Confucius of China, 500 BCE; Cyrus of Persia, 400 BCE; Ashoka of India, 250 BCE; and Jesus of Nazareth CE, son of God and of an unwed mother.

The declaration was celebrated in Europe but less so in nations which benefit most from its protection. The intellectual rivals of the declaration were Habib Malik (humanist) and Zhang Pengjun (Confucian); American educated, Lebanese and Chinese respectively; moderated by activist first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, UN Chair of Human Rights. The vote in 1948 was 48 for, none against and eight abstentions, including Cuba, Costa Rica, Liberia, DR. The declaration was inspired by atrocities against Jews, not blacks or slavery as some imagine. Yet, today it protects many black nations from their own rulers and security forces.

The declaration is a powerful document; it is the global raison d'être for defending refugees, les damnés de la terre and is found in some 400 languages. To this document we credit laws and courts for rights, genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The mass graves of Bosnia, los desaparecidos of Argentina and the mass uninterred in Darfur, Congo, CAR say it may not dissuade determined villains, but it permeates the global ethos, and given time, brings evil men to justice.

The armies of the declaration are our human rights activists. We sleep soundly because they are vigilant. Jamaica marked the anniversary, but not enough. Yet we are blessed with strong groups of record and dedicated activists like Dr Carolyn Gomes, who sacrifice much to save us from our zealous selves and the excesses of our rulers.

The UWI, once the champion of human rights and the grass roots, is host to a coven of selfish, venal tribes. We now have five universities but zero rights activism. They see no evil, hear no evil.

A plague on all their houses! To reprise St Bernard, "When everyone stinks, no one smells." The youth clubs, classes and social interventions in August Town, Tavern and elsewhere have not increased five-fold. Students were the UHWI's blood bank, volunteers for charities; solidarity with activists from Africa to Kent State and the conscience of the nation. G'Beck, Rodney, Munroe and a host of campus-conscious kept the established order honest and provided refuge for urban disaffected youth. Today, as universities focus on self and omit rights activism, the loss of this societal therapy, this lifeline, this hope, drives the disaffected to anti-social pursuits, drugs and criminality. Back then, students printed and proselytised, delivered Abeng from Mona to Frome; students, trade unions and conscious ghetto youth marched as one, were beaten, arrested, ostracised, banned, thrown into pools by handlers of irate politicians. They were hassled by immigration and police, books seized, etc. Still, we had time to play pan, dominoes till 5 am, fete like there was no tomorrow and earn first class honours, seats at Oxford, Johns Hopkins, in business, unions and parliament. The best in business, politics, civil service, unions, etc, are those who were leftist in their youth and know first-hand the pain of the disadvantaged. Today, five-degree factories churn, oblivious of any goal other than self-interest. Idealism is dead!

The human rights boundaries are pushed daily and the declaration is the rock which activists cling to amid strife and suffering. Today, editors, journalists and broadcasters are on the front line and once cushy jobs are now risky professions. Ours are fortunate that their awards are not collected by widows and widowers as happens elsewhere. The remnants of Flight 103 have now won reparations from Iran. Could the declaration win an award for the progeny of Trans-Atlantic slaves or is there a statute of limitations on human rights? In the past weeks, Greek cities were looted and burnt when police violated rights and shot a 15-year-old. Witness too, the Junjaweed massacres, slavery and conversion to Islam at gunpoint in Sudan. In Zimbabwe, a cruel, corrupt, senile ruler inflicts death on his people, pushing them back into pre-history. Rights activists and reporters at the coal face are the ones who speak out and keep us in touch.

Human rights are mutating in ways the UN did not envisage in 1948. Assisted suicides test the declaration as terminally ill people attend the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland and die to their plan. Is it a human right to die with dignity? The court's decision to free the UK doctor sent to Bangladesh by parents into arranged marriage against her will is a benchmark case and rebuffs millennia of Asian culture. In some countries, the Salvation Army cannot rattle their collection tins at Christmas as it infringes citizens' rights to walk the street without hassle. Human trafficking in Europe, slavery in Africa and the Middle East grows with the demand for prostitutes and servants. In Nigeria, parents abandon, mutilate and murder their children, declared child witches by witch doctors. In Tanzania and Burundi, albino (dundus) children are murdered and dismembered as their body parts are in demand for witchcraft. In prisons, addicts now have access to drugs, won on human rights grounds. The blockades of Gaza, gays in the police and army, Guantánamo; the Dalai Lama; retaining DNA of freed suspects by police; teachers not permitted to touch students. What a world! These are unprecedented rights issues, yet the declaration stands.

Every day the declaration is tested and it protects us. Here, the activist void left by UWI is filled by a more urbane and dignified group which needs our support. As the year ends, let us commit to nurture our human rights bodies, protect and pray for the leaders. When a policeman falls victim of rights abuses, he too needs their advocacy. Let us cherish the declaration and its 30 Articles: 60 years on, it is still the best we have.

Dr Franklin Johnston is an international project manager with Teape-Johnston, currently on assignment in the UK.

franklinjohnston@hotmail.com

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