"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world." “In Our Hands” (1958 speech delivered on the tenth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) First adopted in 1948, Eleanor Roosevelt called the Universal Declaration of Human Rights her greatest achievement. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) turned 60 on December 10, 2008. On Human Rights Day 2007, the United Nations Secretary General launched a year-long UN system-wide advocacy campaign to mark this important milestone. The initiative celebrates the Declaration and the promise that has made this document so enduring: “Dignity and justice for all of us”.
FDR’s Unfinished “Second Bill of Rights” – and Why We Need it Now Excerpt from FDR's January 11, 1944 State of the Union Message to Congress enumerating a Second Bill of Rights:
We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. Necessitous men are not free men. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.
In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all – regardless of station, race, or creed. Among these are:
All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.
America's own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for our citizens. For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world Complete text available at The American Presidency Project at UC Santa Barbara. From WIKIpedia:
Roosevelt's January 11 address was delivered via radio, due to the President's illness at the time. During the last portion dealing with the Second Bill of Rights, he asked news cameras to come in and begin filming for later broadcast. This footage was believed lost until it was uncovered in 2008 in South Carolina by Michael Moore while researching for the film Capitalism: A Love Story.
The footage shows Roosevelt's Second Bill of Rights address in its entirety, as well as a shot of the Five Rights printed on a sheet of paper.[2] ...promoting the rights of Mainers - ALL MAINERS - under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Rights are the foundation of our society. Know your rights! Claim your rights! FIGHT for YOUR RIGHTS! Build them strong! Keep them strong! |