AVOID HARM: FIGHT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Human rights violations are among the greatest sufferings that can be inflicted. And now, some good news and some bad news.

The good news is that we have made great progress in this area and that in liberal democracies, these types of abuses are rather infrequent, as legal, judicial, police, and social mechanisms fortunately exist to prevent them.

The bad news is that in dictatorships or illiberal or weak democracies, the situation is different or even very different. Some examples include some kind of communist dictatorships, such as North Korea, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela; countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, such as Russia and Belarus; most Muslim-majority countries; much of sub-Saharan Africa; and Myanmar.

In these places, abuses are committed such as imprisoning innocent people in jails or concentration camps, sometimes under very harsh conditions, beatings, torture and other types of aggression, rape, intimidation or murder. Hearing this is unpleasant, but it is necessary to open our eyes to reality.

Read LOVE THE TRUTH! Face cruelties and injustices head-on

But we have reason to be optimistic. Since the Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century and especially since the adoption of the United States Declaration of Independence and, a few years later, in a more developed form, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen during the French Revolution, there has been a fairly rapid expansion of human rights, first in the West and then in the rest of the world.

Sometimes one step has been taken backward and then two steps forward, but the trend over the decades has been toward greater protection. As the economic and cultural development in different countries rises, it is likely that this civilizing process will continue along the same path toward the summit that it has followed so far.

This does not mean that progress will happen on its own, without requiring our effort, like water flowing down a river to the sea without the need for pumps to push it. Therefore, we should not be complacent, thinking that everything will work out on its own. In the matter of rights, progress has been made thanks to human intervention and especially to the great effort of specific individuals who have fought for them, some of them giving their lives or paying prices such as imprisonment, concentration camps, exile or even torture.

Consequently, if we want human rights to advance, we cannot afford to be complacent. You do not need to give up your current life to travel to some country to fight to overthrow a tyranny, but we can all do our part. Now, I will tell you how:

1. SIGN

Signature collection campaigns are effective, because they put pressure on governments, both those that violate human rights and others—encouraging the latter to influence or even sanction the former. Read more at…

Some campaigns you can sign include the following:

• Those of the Well-Being Institute: human rights, women’s rights, LGBTQI+ rights, children’s rights, rights of other oppressed groups, etc. Access them…

• Those of Amnesty International. If you register on their website, they will send you more campaigns that you can sign.

2. SHARE

Spread the aforementioned campaigns on our social networks and WhatsApp, as well as news about human rights violations to help raise awareness. The more voters who are positioned on these issues, the more politicians will do. This is because they usually do what their constituents want, as what they want above all else are votes.

Read AVOID HARM: Share and convince so that they do not cause harm

3. HELP

You can help with money, time, or in other ways for NGOs such as Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International.

Thank you for making your contribution to building a world with less cruelty and more kindness, with less suffering and more happiness.