LIAISON Vol. 3, No. 1, January 1999

Liaison Newsletter > LIAISON Vol. 3, No. 1, January 1999 - Articles

A Report on the Edmonton Human Rights Conference, Nov. 17-29
A Blueprint for Peace, Justice and Freedom - Universal Rights & Human Values
By Muriel Smith, President of the United Nations Association in Canada

Held to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, the Edmonton Human Rights Conference endeavoured to bring together all the disparate threads that make up the growing culture of the human rights tapestry. There was the historical thread. We heard about John Peters Humphrey, the Canadian jurist who wrote the first draft, and about Eleanor Roosevelt who helped breathe heart and soul from the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) community into the document.

We heard about developments at the UN to spell out in greater detail in subsequent conventions, the elements of human rights: political and civil rights; economic, social and cultural rights; rights of women and of children; and the yet to be completed convention on the rights of indigenous peoples, and conventions on torture, genocide, ant-racism, and the rights of migrants, refugees and people displaced from civil strife and environmental disasters.

Then we heard from politicians. Many had responded to popular demand for human rights commissions to deal with at least some human rights; but in general they all acknowledged there was a great deal left to be done. Hon. Anne McLellan had a particularly difficult tight rope to walk as she avoided defensiveness on the eve of the release in Geneva of the strong critique of Canada’s record on economic, social and cultural rights. In spite of Canada’s relative wealth, Canada had failed to reduce poverty - specifically child poverty, and the overall income gap between the rich and the , or to adequately address conditions for aboriginal persons

In keeping with the theme of revisiting the promise of 1948, acknowledging both advances and retreats during the first 50 years, and looking to the future for the building of a pervasive culture of human rights, the conference planners arranged a half day session where youth could meet Craig Keilburger, from Free the Children, and other youth activists and chart their own commitments for the future.

Personal Highlights

Archbishop Tutu engaging the 1500 strong audience at the Friday night banquet in easy but passionate banter as he did a little dance to the accompaniment of a Latin American band while wearing the Hudson Bay coat that had just been presented to him;

Her Excellency Mary Robinson bringing hope of peace from the Irish experience to a combative world;

Rosalie Abella, a federal judge, who gave a fiery denunciation of Canada’s slide into economic power pre-occupations at the expense of human rights;

Ed Broadbent who brought back stories of personal encounters with workers in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand who have suffered from the dark under-side of economic globalization;

Dr. David Schindler, Killam Memorial Professor of Ecology at the University of Alberta who pointed out the tragic impacts of our current economic practices on the global environment;

Fatoumata Diakite from Mali, a trade unionist who has fought long and strategically to eradicate the practice of female genital mutilation;

Wei Jingsheng who came to the United States in 1997 after 18 years spent in prison for his efforts to promote human rights within China;

Naomi Segal-Bronstein, Executive Director of CANADA CARES Children’s International Foundation, who gave in words and slides a report on her personal experiences working with orphaned, neglected, injured and starving children in South East Asia and Latin America. She herself had adopted six of these children. She spends her working life urging action not only to assist such children wherever they are, but also to draw attention to the tragic reality that it is now children and their families who are in the front lines of military conflict, that war and the production and sales of arms exact an intolerable toll on peoples human rights, and that we must redouble our efforts to find peaceful ways to resolve conflict wherever it may be.

Any complaints?

There was just too much to see and hear, with many concurrent sessions, interactive displays and interesting people to talk to. However, as these are all signs of a successful conference, I really shouldn’t complain. I came away feeling a much deepened commitment to the cause of human rights for all, and a deeper sense of being part of a re-invigorated worldwide movement for human rights. A full report will be published by the sponsors and I commend it you.