Campaign manifesto

The Basque commitment to human rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations 60 years ago. Its main author was René Cassin, a Basque from Bayonne. It is a list of universal rights that should be respected and enforced by all public authorities and individuals and represents a great step forward in the history of the human race. In the words of the Secretary-General of the UN, it is a “benchmark whereby we measure respect for what we understand as good or evil”. To understand its importance it is enough to ask oneself: what if it did not exist?

Fortunately, the Declaration does exist and almost all the States in the world have approved it and have incorporated it into their legislation. This is not enough in itself, however. Powerful allies promote the infringement of its provision. Human Rights continue to be violated all over the world. They are fragile and are put at risk when immersed in situations of injustice, imbalance or inequality.
Respect for Human Rights is the greatest challenge facing the human race. To face up to the challenge at least three things are needed: knowledge of them, being aware of their transcendental nature, and a commitment to them. The first involves knowing the Declaration: disseminating it and reading it, in schools, at home, at work... making it a part of our lives because it is one of the most important texts created by human beings.

The second requirement is being aware of its deep significance. All of us, without exception, have something in common: our inherent human dignity. People are not means, instruments or replaceable instruments. Everyone is an end in him/herself, unique, irreplaceable and with the ability to choose (Kant). As each of us is an end in ourselves we have human dignity, deserve respect and are entitled to rights. This definitive affirmation is the basis and the foundation of the Declaration.

In the experience of our own dignity we find that of other people. This experience is an awareness of human limitations and its limitless creativity. Dialogue, empathy or reconciliation are possible if we are aware that our perspective will never be complete. None of us are depositaries of the whole truth, we have our limitations. Despite this, however, we are an end in ourselves; everyone has the power or reason and conscience and is surrounded by endless realities, abilities and skills. Thanks to this we can choose, create, seek happiness and, basically, make our way through life.

This combination of limitations and creativity is an essential part of dignity. It brings us closer to what is most universal and specifically human. It allows us to reach a deep understanding of the primacy of the individual, the absolute value of his/her dignity and the imperative need to respect human rights. This is why the ethics of human dignity and peace should be a person’s main concern in carrying out his/her life in society.

The third requirement is a commitment. The Declaration runs the risk of being seen as just another reference point of relative importance, comparable (or even inferior) to others, without any awareness of its historical, pre-eminent and universal value. Young people could consider it as something acquired or imposed whose value is taken for granted. However, the fragility of the world demands a continuous renewal of a commitment to its validity, importance and necessity.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has called on the world to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Declaration in 2008 under the slogan “Dignity and justice for everyone”. In the Basque Country we would like to join this initiative by making a global commitment to an international synergy in favour of dignity, and on a local level too, because certain Human Rights are under threat and violated in our country.

This manifesto is its expression. We want to sublimate the primacy of human dignity and the ethical superiority of fundamental rights against any justification of the evil of their violation. Those of us who sign this manifesto express our irreversible commitment to all human rights for all people. Nevertheless, we place emphasis on those that, in our own context and in the world in general, are more vulnerable. In this way, and based on this global commitment, we specifically undertake the following:

  1. The first thing to do is restore human dignity that has been violated. Our first commitment is solidarity, without exceptions, with all the victims of any violation of Human Rights. In our nation and in the world in general, we commit to their dignification, to the reparation of their suffering and to a critical and clarifying review of the unjust past that they have suffered.
  2. Life is the supreme human right on which all other rights are based. If this is not respected all the others lack meaning. No political or ideological cause or reasons of State legitimise its violation. Nobody is entitled to take the life of a fellow human being. We undertake to protect the right to life, in our country and in the world, above any other consideration.
  3. Supervision of human rights should be particularly strict when it affects people who are detained or imprisoned under the protection of public authorities. Torture is one of the most despicable violations of human dignity. We undertake to demand and adopt, in our country and in the world, measures to safeguard them, without any impunity or legal vacuums, and with real legal guarantees.
  4. Inequality and exclusion are the breeding ground for indignity and the violation of Human Rights. We undertake, in our country and in the world, to fight for equality and work for the least privileged so that they can improve their lot and, when this has happened, to continue working for the new least privileged.
  5. Human dignity does not understand gender differences. Discrimination against women has been a heavy historical burden that still causes injustice and violence. We undertake, in our country and in the world, to denounce any kind of discrimination and fight for effective social and legal gender equality.
  6. Respect for human dignity takes the form of a series of basic rights and freedoms on an individual and collective level, these, however, are often subordinated to values such as security or expediency. We undertake, in our country and in the world, to defend freedom of expression, demonstration or association and to respect the majority will of society expressed in a democratic manner.
  7. All of us go through the experience of being in a minority at one time or another. In some way, we are all immigrants or descendants of immigrants. We undertake, in our country and in the world, to show empathy towards minorities and immigrants to bring about their integration under equal conditions of rights and duties without any discrimination for reasons of origin, religion, sexual orientation, social status or political belief.
  8. In any place in the world, or in our own neighbourhood, we see unforeseen injustice and tragedies. The ecological survival of the planet is at risk. We undertake, in our country and in the world, to react against injustice, to protect the weakest in society and to defend the sustainability of the planet against its over-exploitation.
  9. War and violence are the most extreme expressions of iniquity. They are the most flagrant contradiction for the human conscience. We undertake, in our country and in the world, to put obstacles in the way of war and violence and to defend dialogue and agreement between different civilisations, religions, identities and ideologies.
  10. Peaceful co-existence needs human rights to be known, that the deep meaning of human dignity should be understood as the basis for it and that this should be a universally shared commitment. Education in (and for) human rights is needed as an essential instrument to disseminate this systematically. We undertake, in our country and in the world, to educate people in human rights, to disseminate them, to keep them alive and necessary, and to respect them and make sure they are enforced.

Human rights are indivisible, interdependent and universal. One cannot adhere to them partially or “à la carte”. Their partial, partisan or self-interested use is a fraud, rendering them useless. We commit to the defence of all rights for all people as a pre-political and pre-ideological basis. We undertake to fight for their protection and reparation without considerations of race, ethnic group, nation, social group, political ideology or any other cause of discrimination.

16th May 2008
Txaro Arteaga, Bernardo Atxaga, Nestor Basterretxea, Garbiñe Biurrun, Gurutze Irizar, Mikel Laboa, Gorka Landaburu, Anjel Lertxundi, Ramón Múgica, Dora Salazar y Joan Mari Torrealdai.