World

World Marks Human Rights Day

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

December 10, 1998 / 8:38 AM EST / CBS

People around the world celebrating the 50th anniversary of the United Nations human rights charter Thursday called for more efforts to end still-rampant abuses.

"We've left a question mark after the word 'happy' in 'happy anniversary'," said Hideki Morihara of Amnesty International in Japan. "Even now, there is no end to the violation of human rights in the world."

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the most comprehensive and widely recognized international standard for the protection of human rights. The U.N. General Assembly has scheduled a special session to mark the anniversary.

"It is a mirror that at once flatters us and shames us, that bears witness to a record of progress for parts of humanity while revealing a history and reality of horrors for others," U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said of the declaration.

The declaration has turned into the world's most widely accepted international bill of rights, still used as a basis for standards of fundamental freedoms of thought, opinion, expression, belief, and equal opportunity.

When it was approved by the General Assembly, the United Nations had only 59 members. A total of 48 voted in favor. Those abstaining or absent included the Soviet bloc countries, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa.

But slowly many countries incorporated key principles from the declaration in their constitutions. Whether or not these were obeyed, the pledges gave legitimacy to the advocacy and grass-roots groups that have mushroomed in nearly every country in the world.

Throughout Asia and other regions, there were reminders of the many who continue to be denied basic freedoms and rights.

In Myanmar, also known as Burma, Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi attended a U.N.-sponsored ceremony with other officials of her opposition National League for Democracy. No government officials took part.

"Nobody can deny there are no human rights in Burma," said Suu Kyi, who has endured nine years of either house arrest or strict restrictions on her activities under the ruling military junta. "And the people of Burma will never enjoy peace and security unless there is a government that can guarantee human rights."

Even as Chinese President Jiang Zemin promised to protect human rights in a letter marking the anniversary, police ransacked the homes of several dissidents in a widening crackdown.

Police detained some dissidents for questioning and seized photos and pamphlets, including copies of the declaration that the dissidents had planned to hand out at schools and factories, New York-based Human Rights in China said.

Although China took part in drafting a U.N. statement on the anniversary, in practice it still represses those who fight for human rights, the group said.

While attending an anniversary celebration in Paris, the Dalai Lama said conditions for his fellow Tibetans were worsening undr Chinese rule.

"The situation is very difficult, very grave," the spiritual leader said. "We have to hope to improve our situation."

In India, scores of Tibetan exiles burned the Chinese flag in protest of Beijing's rule of their homeland.

Elsewhere in India, people once known as "untouchable" announced that they were kicking off a yearlong campaign to "cast out caste."

Discrimination based on caste is illegal in India, but it is entrenched by tradition and continues to be widespread.

New York-based Human Rights Watch started a worldwide campaign in response to the Dec. 1 arrest of Hafez Abu Saada, head of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, which recently reported widespread police torture of Coptic Christians in a southern village.

Abu Saada has been accused of accepting illegal foreign donations and publishing false reports that damaged Egypt's image. Conviction could result in a prison sentence of up to 15 years at hard labor.

The Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor started an on-line Chinese language database of human rights treaties. In the business district, about 200 people celebrated with dances and music in a public garden.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, a conservative shipping tycoon handpicked by Beijing, said the territory remained a "robust and lively community where people have no hesitation in speaking their minds."

Many people were concerned about curbs on freedom after the former British colony's return to Chinese rule in 1997. So far, China has adopted a hands-off policy in most matters.

In Belarus in Russia, activists organized pickets to spread the word about the human rights charter, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.

Polls by the Committee to Protect Journalists have put Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko among the world's 10 leaders with the worst records for suppressing independent media. Rights groups say 500 people have been unjustly arrested or beaten by authorities this year in Belarus.

Human Rights Watch in Asia has painted a gloomy picture of the rights situation in Cambodia: Officials linked to killings and mysterious disappearances still hold office, and Khmer Rouge leaders accused in the deaths of millions of people in the 1970s are still at large, it said.

And Australian Prime Minister John Howard acknowledged his nation has a long way to go in the human rights arena. The 400,000 Aborigines, among Australia's 18 million people, have always been the poorest.

"I don't pretend for a moment our human rights record has been without blemish," he told Parliament. "If you don't respect the human rights of your own people, then you can hardly put yourself in a position to lecture the rest of the world."