The Role of Nongovernmental Organizations
Globally
the champions of human rights have most often been citizens, not
government officials. In particular, non governmental organizations
(NGOs) have played a cardinal role in focusing the international
community on human rights issues. For example, NGO activities
surrounding the 1995 United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in
Beijing, China, drew unprecedented attention to serious violations of
the human rights of women. NGOs such as Amnesty International,
International Human Rights Organization for Police Public Press, the
Antislavery Society, the International Commission of Jurists, the
International Working Group on Indigenous Affairs, Human Rights Watch,
Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights, and Survivors International
monitor the actions of governments and pressure them to act according to
human rights principles.
Government officials who understand the human
rights framework can also effect far reaching change for freedom. Many
United States Presidents such as Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt,
Lyndon B. Johnson,Jimmy Carter and
Barack Obama
have taken strong stands for human rights. In
other countries leaders like Nelson Mandela and Vaclev Havel have
brought about great changes under the banner of human rights.
Human rights is an idea whose time has come.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a call to freedom and
justice for people throughout the world. Every day governments that
violate the rights of their citizens are challenged and called to task.
Every day human beings worldwide mobilize and confront injustice and
inhumanity. Like drops of water falling on a rock, they wear down the
forces of oppression and move the world closer to achieving the
principles expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
