In Washington DC, New York City, and in Europe, supporters of Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) all held events promoting our universal human rights on December 10, Human Rights Day. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations on December 10, 1948, and Human Rights Day is an international event held annually to address human rights issues. At all three R.E.A.L. events around the globe, human rights activists pointed to the ongoing threats from nations and those who ideologies that reject the universal human rights defined in the UDHR.
The world continues to face a challenge from totalitarian and supremacist ideologies and nations, and R.E.A.L.’s Human Rights Day events were to publicize these ongoing challenges and discuss areas where our commitment to our universal human rights must be improved. This included challenging ideologies of hate, including racial supremacism, misogyny, extremism, other religious extremism, and Communist totalitarianism. R.E.A.L. members asked the public to embrace these challenges as our own – as others human rights are our human rights. Our goal was to urge the public to make a renewed personal commitment to be Responsible for Equality And Liberty.
In Europe, the day’s events kicked off in Nuremberg, Germany with speakers:
— R.E.A.L.’s Steven Gerson from the United Kingdom addressing the importance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the plight of Jewish refugees
— R.E.A.L.’s Puneet Madaan from Germany addressing the oppression of religious minorities
— Karmen Wynick from the United States on women’s right violations in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and other areas.
— Thomas P. Gross, From CSI Germany will be speaking about copts in Egypt.
— R.E.A.L.’s Jeffrey Imm from the United States (via weblink) addressing the challenge of religious extremism threats to human liberties
— Tehmina Kazi from the United Kingdom, the Director of British Muslims for Secular Democracy
December 10, 2009 - Washington DC - National Press Club Human Rights Day Speakers: Voice of the Copts Ashraf Ramelah, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)'s Jeffrey Imm, Falun Dafa (Falun Gong)'s Lisa Tao, Pakistan Christian Congress' Dr. Nazir Bhatti, Lisa Tao's Translator Pan Jin
In Washington DC, R.E.A.L. held a press conference at the National Press Club, which included speakers:
* Jeffrey Imm, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.), on women’s and children’s rights, the dual challenge of religious extremism and freedom, the challenges to human liberty by totalitarian ideologies, and growing challenges to racial equality by supremacists
— Jeffrey Imm Human Rights Day Remarks: Adobe Acobat format, Microsoft Word format
* Dr. Nazir Bhatti, Pakistan Christian Congress, on Pakistan’s blasphemy law, threats, attacks, and killings of Christian religious minorities in Pakistan
— Dr. Nazir S. Bhatti remarks: “US administration urged to condition Pakistan Aid with Repeal of Blasphemy Law”
* Ashraf Ramelah, The Voice of the Copts, on the suppression of Christian religious minorities in Egypt, including kidnapping and forced conversion of Coptic Christian women and girls
— Ashraf Ramelah Remarks: “Suppression of Christian religious minorities in Egypt”
* Lisa Tao, Falun Dafa (Falun Gong), on human rights atrocities against the Falun Gong over the past 10 years in Communist China (in Chinese with English Interpreter).
— Lisa Tao Human Rights Day Remarks: Microsoft Word format (English), Microsoft Word format (Chinese)
R.E.A.L.'s Racquel Coordinating NYC Human Rights Day Event
In New York City, R.E.A.L. speakers addressed concerns about the ideological brainwashing of children and the inconsistencies in dealing with supremacist threats:
— Brooke Goldstein discussed the hate incitement by extremist media and schools, and the international law concerning a child’s right to life, addressing children she interviewed in her film, The Making of a Martyr
— Heather Robinson spoke about how Hamas’ human rights abuses have been ignored and of the challenges of internation groups in demonizing Israel
— Joel Mowbray addressed the challenges of how UNRWA schools (which service 1/3 of Palestinian children) contain textbooks that contain hate propoganda.
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) is a group that seeks to reach out to the public to rebuild a culture where our universal human rights are a priority, not an afterthought. We believe that our standard of living as human beings — begins with our standard of human rights for one another. In a world where compromise has become a way of life, R.E.A.L.’s mission is to focus on consistency in human rights, and to offer a consistent vision on the largest threats to human equality and liberty. R.E.A.L. promotes a culture of co-existence is dependent on our shared universal human rights around the world. R.E.A.L. believes that such consistency requires challenging those ideologies of supremacism and totalitarianism that would defy our universal human rights.
For information on future events, contact usa@realcourage.org
As we have additional information on these global Human Rights Day events, including YouTube videos, we will update these web pages.
Where Our Universal Human Rights Apply...
