"The greatest evil today is indifference. To know and not to act is a way of consenting to these injustices. The planet has become a very small place. What happens in other countries affects us."
-- Elie Wiesel, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize
The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on Dec. 10, 1948. This day has come to be International Human Rights Day and is celebrated throughout the world. Special celebration days are times to stop and give thought. They are days set aside from the normal routine that allow us the time to reflect, to think and perhaps to set new directions. Celebration days too are days when perhaps we ought to broaden our vision beyond just our individual lives to include our society, our nation and our world.
International Human Rights day should be such a day. This year Human Rights Day is of particular significance to us here in Taiwan as it marks the 20th anniversary of the Kaohsiung Incident which was a key point in the struggle for human rights here in Taiwan. This year, on Dec. 10 let us remember the human rights struggles that occurred here in the past.
As we look towards the future, we ought to broaden our vision to include the human rights struggles that are occurring today, as you read this, all over the world. We ought to consider how we as a nation and as individuals can assist the fight for human rights that goes on each day. The sad reality is that events like the Kaohsiung Incident occur all the time all over the world. The Kaohsiung Incident was about a people calling for democracy, for freedom, for respect for their human rights. That same call is being made throughout Asia and throughout the world right now, today.
Wiesel was right to focus on indifference. To give Human Rights Day any meaning we must put aside our indifference. We must act.
Given the size of the world and its many problems, individuals frequently feel that they, as individuals, can do little to change the way the world is.
But we are not powerless to stop human rights abuses. Each individual can act to stop cases of even the gravest human rights abuse. One does not need to be a major world leader, or a wealthy millionaire, or be famous. "Regular people" like you and I can, right now, do something to help stop human rights abuses all over the world. Failure to do so, as Wiesel also points out, "... is a way of consenting to these injustices."
The question then becomes, how can an individual make a difference? The same way the people at the Kaohsiung Incident rally 20 years ago did: by joining their voices with the other voices calling for respect for human rights. The most effective way to do this is to join, support and participate in the activities of a human rights advocacy group.
Here in Taiwan today, we are fortunate to have a small number of excellent human rights groups, such as the Taiwan Association for Human Rights (
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