Human Rights: 50 years on

Magnus Smyly reports on an opportunity to celebrate the Millennium by working for Freedom, Justice and Dignity for people at home and abroad

On 10 December 1948 a world agreed to sign the convention of Human Rights detailing what all of mankind could expect from each other. To mark this occasion, a conference was held at Guildford Cathedral in October 1999 to discuss the success and failures of the past and now.

Organised by a collaboration of interested groups in the Guildford area, the conference drew leading speakers. Ann Clwyd, labour MP and chair of the All Party Group on Human Rights spoke first and concentrated on the present Government's policy and practice on Human Rights. She noted that while the USA has banned weapons being sent to Indonesia, the UK has suspended delivery of arms for four months and still has an office for exports in Jakarta, an arm of the Ministry of Defence. Indeed, to take the issue further, economists at the University of York have evaluated a total subsidy for the arms trade of $3400m while the exports are $3200m: the socioeconomic argument for continuing to arm the most unjust around the world no longer can be held as valid.

Gary Streeter MP, as Shadow Secretary of State for International Development spoke second with an emphasis on the need to listen to Non- Governmental Organisations, NGOs. He added that his many visits in the last two years had changed his life for ever and changed the importance of things in life: to a Christ order — life over money, and so forth. He noted that the declaration was an attempt to overcome the problems without God; an impossible task, he added, being a Christian himself. The statistics which he stated make stark reading: e.g. 12 million children under 5 years old die each year.

Third to speak was Baroness Emma Nicholson MEP who has worked in many key positions in the government in the past and had just returned from Kosovo. She focussed on refugees and made the distinction with economic migrants and highlighted that true refugees need to be protected. She praised the work of NGOs and gave the example of Amnesty International, who highlight the number of political prisoners around the world, and those who are slain. In the past eight years, 17,000 have been executed in China, more than 1 in 10 of the population of Reading. Regarding war, 38 countries armed both sides in the Iran/Iraq war. There is always hope and an International Criminal Court is in the process of being founded to ensure that the leaders of “ethnic cleansing” and other devil-like crimes are brought to trial.

Bruce Kent, former general secretary of CND closed with a summary of the earlier speakers and noted that in this country we are guilty of not upholding Human Rights as we might. He cited the basic state pension compared with the national minimum wage, for example, along with British prisons locking up 60,000 people a day for 23 hours. He questioned why there is no clear church statement to the public of what Christ's position on the issue of Human Rights would be. Depressingly he added that of the 30 wars in the world today, only 2 are between different sovereign nations. There is not even unity within nations.

Bruce finished as I will by focussing on where this fits into our world as a Christian. We are members of the transnational Body of Christ and it is there that we should find our identity first and foremost. Pentecost demonstrates a need to listen to the Spirit together no matter what our own language and culture and through this, like Christ's strong but non-violent succession to the Kingdom, we need to focus on the delegitimisation of war as being central to the culture needed for the next millennium. I believe it is through our faith and example in Jesus that we need to start with ourselves and the lives we live.

Magnus Smyly

The debate continues …

By Magnus Smyly

On 10 December 1948 a world agreed to sign the convention of Human Rights detailing what all of mankind could expect from each other. To mark this occasion, a conference was held at Guildford Cathedral in October 1999 to discuss the success and failures of the past and now.

Organised by a collaboration of interested groups in the Guildford area, the conference drew leading speakers. Ann Clwyd, labour MP and chair of the All Party Group on Human Rights spoke first and concentrated on the present Government's policy and practice on Human Rights. She noted that while the USA has banned weapons being sent to Indonesia, the UK has suspended delivery of arms for four months and still has an office for exports in Jakarta, an arm of the Ministry of Defence. Indeed, to take the issue further, economists at the University of York have evaluated a total subsidy for the arms trade of $3400m while the exports are $3200m: the socioeconomic argument for continuing to arm the most unjust around the world no longer can be held as valid.

Gary Streeter MP, as Shadow Secretary of State for International Development spoke second with an emphasis on the need to listen to Non- Governmental Organisations, NGOs. He added that his many visits in the last two years had changed his life for ever and changed the importance of things in life: to a Christ order — life over money, and so forth. He noted that the declaration was an attempt to overcome the problems without God; an impossible task, he added, being a Christian himself. The statistics which he stated make stark reading: e.g. 12 million children under 5 years old die each year.

Third to speak was Baroness Emma Nicholson MEP who has worked in many key positions in the government in the past and had just returned from Kosovo. She focussed on refugees and made the distinction with economic migrants and highlighted that true refugees need to be protected. She praised the work of NGOs and gave the example of Amnesty International, who highlight the number of political prisoners around the world, and those who are slain. In the past eight years, 17,000 have been executed in China, more than 1 in 10 of the population of Reading. Regarding war, 38 countries armed both sides in the Iran/Iraq war. There is always hope and an International Criminal Court is in the process of being founded to ensure that the leaders of “ethnic cleansing” and other devil-like crimes are brought to trial.

Bruce Kent, former general secretary of CND closed with a summary of the earlier speakers and noted that in this country we are guilty of not upholding Human Rights as we might. He cited the basic state pension compared with the national minimum wage, for example, along with British prisons locking up 60,000 people a day for 23 hours. He questioned why there is no clear church statement to the public of what Christ's position on the issue of Human Rights would be. Depressingly he added that of the 30 wars in the world today, only 2 are between different sovereign nations. There is not even unity within nations.

Bruce finished as I will by focussing on where this fits into our world as a Christian. We are members of the transnational Body of Christ and it is there that we should find our identity first and foremost. Pentecost demonstrates a need to listen to the Spirit together no matter what our own language and culture and through this, like Christ's strong but non-violent succession to the Kingdom, we need to focus on the delegitimisation of war as being central to the culture needed for the next millennium. I believe it is through our faith and example in Jesus that we need to start with ourselves and the lives we live.

Magnus Smyly