On the 10th of December the world will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Human Rights declaration.  Journalist, commentator and activist Simon Fanshawe considers how the landscape of human rights has shifted since 1948 and what it means to us today.

"Re-reading the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is an exhilarating journey through the highest peaks of human aspiration.

In its 60 years it has stood as guarantor of what we believe is good in society and what the world could be like to live in. The Secretary General of the UN, launching the 60 year anniversary said, "In a world still reeling from the horrors of the Second World War, the Declaration was the first global statement of what we now take for granted: the inherent dignity and equality of all human beings."

Despite being so often trashed across the world, from Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma to imprisoned Chinese Human Rights Activist Hu Jia who recently received the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, through the countless men and women in bonded labour or gays imprisoned for their expression of love, the Declaration remains inspirational.
 
But while its principles are enduring, the territory has changed, certainly in Britain over the last period. Progress has changed our battles. We might say that in our daily lives, if we’re black or gay or disabled or a woman or old, that while discrimination may be an everyday event, it’s no longer an all day event. There are still plenty of glass ceilings, areas of exclusion or forbidden status. But with a black President in the USA, a gay Business Secretary here in the UK, women leading businesses across the world, and the issues facing disabled people up in the forefront of BBC comedy, we have to admit that the world has changed.
 
For people who are used to being discriminated against, the challenge is to emerge from a victimising ‘group’ identity when the barriers we’ve been facing have shifted.  Yes, groups of people are systematically denied rights and discriminated against. As individuals, we know we’re black when we get abused on the street, or that we’re gay when the fist hits our face. But we don’t spend all day being that person. Having waited so long, we need to move ahead with our individual choices and identities, while still drawing strength from a group identity.  Progress means developing our potential as individuals and our “inherent dignity and equality as human beings”: a goal which is not served by the tyranny of low expectations, bred by historical disadvantage. 
 
Human Rights are fundamentally about fairness – about achieving ‘radical equality’ between people as individuals.  You don’t have to be black, gay, disabled, Muslim or female for the idea and practice of fairness and equality to impact on your life - nor to feel and act on a passion for it.
 
The campaign to mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights must be an inspiration to all of us who want to fight for fairness and think fair. In some ways, the anniversary could be seen to herald the end of group identity. From now on, equality won’t be adequately expressed by just ticking the boxes for traditionally excluded communities.  It can only be served by each of us – and all of us - thinking and acting fair.  We all need to be convinced - whether we’re a middle aged white man, an Asian businesswoman, or a poor gay man - that we have an obligation to each other and a shared aspiration to be treated fairly – whoever we are. That desire for fairness unites us. But clinging on to static definitions of a group identity will divide us.  In Britain you’re not necessarily disadvantaged because you’re black or gay; you’re not economically disadvantaged because you’re a Muslim; you’re not immobilised because you’re disabled. What we want is fair treatment, whoever we are. And we know you don’t get it by being put in a box. You get it when you’re released from a box – but you have to have the courage to step through the door.

Let’s celebrate the 60th anniversary by reaffirming that, yes, we all do have human rights - and that we want to guarantee them to each other."

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