HUMAN RIGHTS DAY in DAVAO CITY

(This is quite a lengthy post but I encourage you to read.)

Today, December 10 (Eastern hemisphere time) marks the celebration of the 61st United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

And Assumption College of Davao is one of the many that adheres to the principles of this declaration, thus a college wide cancellation of classes as students and faculty went out to the streets today to join many other advocates who cry for elusive justice not only for the 57 victims of Maguindanao massacre but also for those who have been callously victims of human rights violation.

Since its declaration back in 1940s ‘human rights’ has been a cliché that has been used over and over again that it has already been a part of human’s everydayness, an institutionalized agency, an advocacy, a next religion whatever, however you call it, yet violations are inevitable, from subtle to brutal ones.

In this part of Mindanao, the observance is more consequential because of the blatant manifestation of violation of this so-called human rights.

Let me share some of my insights here, as far as my sociological knowledge is concern, human rights are basic rights and freedoms to which all humans inhabiting this Earth are entitled to, that includes me of course.

These rights are so broad that it covers all aspects of human existence. Most commonly these rights include our;

1. Civil and political rights, such as our right to life in which this is again a relative concept when applied to areas like Maguindanao, where 57 lives were claimed on a broad daylight (This is just the reported one, and excludes the unreported ones) or in Davao City where DDS (the dreaded Davao Death Squad) exist, in which as of posting time not even one of the hundred lives that were ruthlessly/mistakenly killed, extra-judicial killings not even a drop of justice was dispensed. (Saan ba ang human rights dito?), another is;

2. Liberty (such an elusive, a mysterious word for me, but you can have your own definition of liberty);

3. Freedom of expression, which has been a subject of contestation not only here in Davao City but all over the world, I guess you know what I’m talking about;

4. Equality before the law in which whether you agree or not is another human miracle when fully realized;

5. Economic rights, well again I think only those who ‘have’ and not the ‘have nots’ possess this right in our society;

6. Social and Cultural rights; I was able to choose what life I wanted, so I guess this right serve me right; but what about those victims of social and cultural injustices, their right to food, their right to work, their right (not privilege) to education, their right to own their ancestral domain and many, many more…….. my heart aches enumerating all these things.

Article 1 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states … All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

A portion of the Preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 further states ….Whereas it is essential, if man (such a sexist term) is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law.

A statement so beautiful, that it made me proud I’m a ‘homo sapiens’ but the way human species treat each other made me think one more time, I’d rather be the pinkest of the flamingos, the blackest of the ravens or the slowest of the turtles, the stoutest of the trees, if I survive with human specie that kill one another, bury one another alive, senselessly kill one another to gain, maintain power in this rotten society of ours.

I don’t mean to be preachy here, but just another human being hopelessly sick of human system that airs her disgust, and carrying out her right to freedom of expression in this virtual world.

Thank you for reading and you are free to leave a comment. See you again for another rambling in this side of town.