These are unequivocally turbulent and uncertain times, characterized by the spread of fear and misery, the dizzying decline of democracy and freedoms, in large parts of the world, and by the growing degradation of the planet. These are also profound times to build a common future for humanity in terms of hope, progress and prosperity.
Certainly, in many regions of the erupting world that we know, the lives of numerous people are marked by outrageous poverty, by the return of the fire of anger and hatred, by frustration, desolation and hopelessness.
Authoritarianism persists as an immovable object, and the siege on democratic systems grows, which are threatened by disintegrative, autocratic and totalitarian forces, supported by fanaticism, demagoguery and extreme polarization.
We are convinced that we have not made enough progress in the objective of freeing humanity from the servitudes of war that hindered the progress of democracies, as advocated by Eleonor Roosevelt and René Cassin, promoters and architects of the Universal Declaration of Rights. Human Rights of 1948. We have failed to guarantee the right of all people to a dignified life, to trace the path along which we should travel in the hope of overcoming tyranny, intolerance, inequality, and transforming that desire into a political and legal, economic and social progress.
Therefore, 75 years have passed since the proclamation of the Universal Declaration, well beyond the threshold of the 21st century, it makes sense for us to ask ourselves the following questions: What continues to be the value, strength and ideological influence of the Universal Declaration?
What commitments should the International Community, national governments, corporations and civil society make to increase the weight of the Universal Declaration in our daily lives?
What role should the United Nations assume to contribute to the development of global governance and thus face a sustainable future and continue promoting a balanced, stable and secure international order, free of human rights violations?
The world has changed profoundly in the last 75 years. Globalization and the technological revolution have profoundly transformed our societies and our ways of life. They have contributed to generating prosperity, but, negatively, to creating more spaces of social indignity and inequality.
Eradicating poverty and fighting extreme economic and social inequalities continues to be an urgent priority on the global agenda. We cannot remain indifferent to the suffering of more than three and a half billion people who live deprived of the essential conditions to lead a life in accordance with the value of human dignity.
There are not only war crimes, but also peace crimes that we must combat, generated by the contempt for those human rights that are essential for women and men to enjoy a dignified life.
The fight against inequalities (and particularly in favor of gender equality) constitutes an ethical and moral imperative. All human beings have the full right to be guaranteed the economic rights that support a life freed from poverty, as already stated in the preamble of the Universal Declaration.
The Universal Declaration did not advocate a world government. But, in the current situation, many academic fields reveal the need to define the new paradigms that must govern the recomposition of the new multipolar international order, which must be based on loyal cooperation and the reaffirmation of the universal value of rights. humans, in line with the emerging civic vocation of global society committed to building a more supportive and fraternal world (Josep M. Colomer and Ashley L. Beale, Democracy and globalization2021).
The transition towards a strengthened world government can alleviate the noticeable deficits in global governance.
Global governance is incompatible with the persistence of fragile global institutions, incapable of maintaining and ensuring a just and lasting peace in all areas of the world, and of reaffirming the bases of a civilizational canon founded on human dignity, intrinsic to all beings. humans, as a supreme value against moral relativism, which favors the expansion and extension of democracy, equity, and respect for nature.
To achieve this, it is essential to revitalize the governance of global institutions (particularly, the United Nations and specialized Agencies), so that they are capable of diligently facing crisis scenarios, and determining the priority objectives that concern the development and implementation of strategies. global.
More democracy, more democracies. Peace in the world and the progress of humanity are not assured without reinforcing the dimensional idea of democracy, without developing the status of citizenship, without promoting greater openness of public space.
The advancement of democracy at the global, state and local level requires promoting the articulation of solid, transparent and effective democratic institutional systems, founded on the principle of political representation and respect for the rights of minorities.
Democracy means, above all, compliance with the rules of the game, the principle of division and separation of powers, the mechanisms of checks and balances between fundamental institutions, and respect for political pluralism.
Democracy implies respect for others, acceptance of the political adversary. Respect for ideological, political, cultural, and religious diversity, based on the conviction that disregarding the value of mutual tolerance undermines the foundations of democracy.
Defending democracy entails the duty to effectively protect fundamental human rights, not to abdicate democratic values or principles, nor to dispense with the institutions that structure the Welfare State, because outside the framework of freedom and social justice, democracy perishes. democracy.
Strengthen the rule of law, ensure the value of the rule of law, through the institutionalization of a regime of law, based on the value of justice, delivered by independent and impartial courts, whose mission is to protect the legitimate rights of people against acts that violate human rights, was essential for the drafters of the Universal Declaration, aware of the need to guarantee a “State of justice” at the universal level.
The rule of law must guarantee legal security, legal rationality and correctness, and social peace in the resolution of conflicts. It must generate citizens' confidence in their public institutions and, particularly, in the actions of the courts of justice.
A greener and more ecological future appeals to us all.
The conservation of the planet is also a global challenge that, although it was not contemplated in the articulated text of the Universal Declaration, it is unquestionable that the thelos of the Declaration promotes providing a global response in political, ethical and legal terms, to the emergency situation. climate, barbarism and environmental insecurity that we suffer, to conserve the planet and ensure its survival for future generations.
Respect for nature and our common environment, the protection of ecosystems and biodiversity, the fight against climate change cannot wait, because the very resilience of the human species is at risk.
Stopping the barbarity of war, stopping the collapse of democracies, combating global unrest, continues to be the cry that emerges from the Universal Declaration of 1948, capable of mobilizing all of humanity.
When we commemorate the 75th anniversary of its adoption, we consider that this Document, the basis of contemporary International Law, maintains its validity and relevance as a recipient of the inseparable values of dignity of the human person, freedom, equality and non-discrimination, solidarity and social justice. and peace, which defines the universal status of human rights.
It continues to preserve the attraction and referential ideological force of the core of democratic values, principles and rights, whose respect and protection makes possible the advent of a future in hope that makes our world an authentic and true home for all.
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