The European Jewish Congress, on Human Rights Day 2008 and on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is concerned about the recent evolution of human rights in the United Nations and in the world.
The UN – an organization created to promote peace, tolerance and understanding between nations through the promotion of human rights – has dangerously drifted from its original principles. From the unacceptable draft declaration of the Durban Review Conference (Durban II) to the antisemitic discourse of the President of the UN General Assembly to the contradictions of the Human Rights Council, the United Nations’ human rights agenda is losing legitimacy and focus.
Elaborated by Renice Cassin, a French ressistant and well-respect humanist, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights must be reinforced and put into practice with strength and determination, including on the premises of the UN. The world can no longer tolerate the permanent human rights violations that take place daily in Darfur, Somalia, Congo and other conflict zones.
Moshe Kantor, President of the European Jewish Congress, states that “we must stop non-democratic fundamentalist regimes from hijacking the instruments elaborated by the UN to promote human rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights must be placed once again at the fore of United Nations’ human rights system and democratic nations must bring the UN back to its fundamental core values.”
