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Nabarralde | Nabarra Papers
Mourning
the 50th Anniversary of the UDHR
Mila Parot
Zubimendi.
The
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was signed in
Paris fifty years ago. Several events to mourn the Declaration
are taking place this week in Paris and New York. French and
American government officials are among the luminaries who
are helping the UN Secretary-General mark the 50th anniversary
of the Declaration -- the most comprehensive and widely recognized
international standard for the protection of civil, political,
social, cultural and economic rights yet violated by most
of its signatories.
Former
French Minister of Justice Robert Badinter was named president
of the Inter-Ministerial Commission, the organizer of the
Paris Meeting events commemorating the adoption of the UDHR
in Paris on 10 December 1948. During his term as Minister
of Justice, Badinter promised that France would "always welcome
the Basque political refugees" and compared ETA to the French
resistance. Later in the 1980s, when Spain began its campaign
of bombing, kidnapping and murder against Basque activists
in France, Badinter changed his mind and France began to take
away the status of "political refugees" from the Basques refugees
or denied them asylum. Nevertheless, the tragic situation
of the world refugees will be remember this week by the United
Nations where Vanessa Redgrave is hosting the lecture "For
the worldwide right to asylum"
French
President Jacques Chirac opened the Paris Meeting event at
the UNESCO headquarters. Chirac is a champion of the "executive
order" which, in spite of protests and condemnations by French
judges, religious leaders, human rights activists and the
UN Committee Against Torture, has expelled hundreds of Basque
refugees to Spain, a human rights offender. Under Chirac,
the official policy against Basque speaking (nominally) French
citizens was highlighted when a Basque day-nursery was banned
in Miarritze in May 1997.
French
Prime Minister Lionel Jospin is presenting the Human Rights
Award of the French Republic on Dec 10th. A strong contender
for the award is the French Jail Administration for its efforts
to "re-socialize" Basque political prisoner Frederik Haranburu
with two free brain surgeries. Jospin recently granted a merit
award to Spain's former president Felipe Gonzalez whose government
organized, funded, and directed the deaths squads known as
"GAL" which murdered and wounded hundreds of Basque dissidents
in France -- including women and children.
UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan gave a speech at the UNESCO headquarters
in Paris this week. He said "wherever we seek peace, reconciliation
or political dialogue, we begin with human rights" yet he
did not apologize for the UN blockade of Iraq (6,000 children
are still dying every month in Iraq) or the UN doing nothing
about the massacre in Rwanda, in spite of having been informed
in advance by credible sources.
The
Champs Elysees luminaries did not mind the Dalai Lama's administration
received millions from the C.I.A. for "training volunteers
and paying for guerrilla operations against the Chinese,"
and had him as one of their guests of honor. After all, thought
Chirac, the Dalai Lama has charisma and is well-liked by Hollywood,
which is sure to make him a party favorite.
The
gala events at the UN headquarters in New York have Madelaine
Albright as a guest of honor, who will never tell us about
the U.S. adherence to the universal declaration both in action
and in doctrine. That is because the U.S. dismisses one fundamental
component of the universal declaration completely as having
no status: that's the component that's concerned with the
socio-economic provisions, which have the same status as any
others in the universal declaration.
Aside
from the terror and violence to which the U.S. has subjugated
much of the Thirld World, the loans to Washington's favorite
dictators, and the economic warfare that is a Washington specialty,
Madame Albright, who grandly proclaim the UDHR, would not
dare to admit that almost half a million children die every
year as a direct result of the debt repayment on which the
U.S. insist so that commercial banks will be compensated for
their bad loans.
Notwithstanding
the hypocrisy, and to remind us of the universality of human
rights, the UN's Dag Hammarskjold Library Auditorium in New
York will be screening on Dec 10th the world premiere of the
UN documentary on the UDHR "For everyone, everywhere" narrated
by Harrison Ford, himself a target of "terrorists" in the
big screen.
In
the capital of the world, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's NYPD will
be out in force marching in goose step against Hollywood Arab
terrorists, with Giuliani dressed to review the police in
his favorite Marilyn Monroe gown. The mayor's presence will
guarantee that the events in New York Citry commemorating
the 50th anniversary of the UDHR will not be a drag.
Mila
Parot Zubimendi is a law student and environment activist. She
lives in Miarritze.
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