联合国人权事务高级专员纳维•皮莱的致辞
人权日
2012年12月10日
 

中文版：

近年来，世界各地数百万人涌上街头，在发生于别处事件的激励下，有的要求公民和政治权利，有的要求经济、社会和文化权利。
 

这股日益高涨的情绪并非简单地归因于人们要求言论自由，以及表达所想和表明所需的自由。
 

他们要求的远不止如此。他们要求政府不再罔顾民意，自行评判何为民之所想。他们要求充分参与国际、国家和地方各级影响其日常生活的重要决定和政策的权利。许多国家的群众表明，对于领导者蔑视人民，无视人民的需要、追求、畏惧和愿望的态度，他们已忍无可忍。
 

他们所要求的，实际上是60多年来，根据国际法，他们本应享有的权利。他们所要求的，是每年12月10日纪念的《世界人权宣言》所规定，后经其他具有约束力的国际条约所充实的各项人权。
 

每一个公民应享有直接或通过自由选择的代表参与公共事务的权利和机会。每一个人应有选举和被选举的权利，参加本国公务的权利，以及发表意见、集会和结社的自由。这些权利均载于167个缔约国参加的《公民权利和政治权利国际公约》。其他法律和文件也以各种类似方式一再重申了这些权利。
 

这些权利本应适用于每一个人。任何人都不应因其为妇女、属于少数群体、或信奉某种宗教，或因其为同性恋、身有残疾、持有某种政治信念，因其为移民或属于某个种族或族裔而被剥夺任何一项权利。每一个人在我们的社会中都应该有不容忽视的发言权。每一个人都应该能够自由、积极和有意义地参与经济和政治事务。
 

不幸的是，很多人没有这些权利。
 

相反，他们被忽视。更有甚者，他们饱受迫害，而且试图帮助他们争取自己权利的人——人权维护者——也受到恐吓、威胁和迫害。有些手段虽没有那么明目张胆，但潜伏的危害更为严重：某些个人或群体根本得不到任何机会：没有机会表达意见，没有机会凭借自己的才智，发挥所长、摆脱贫困、担任公职，更遑论晋身要职。
 

千百万人根本不敢有任何奢望，他们只能想挨过今天，活到明天。
 

这也许是因为他们没有上过学，或是因为他们没有医疗保健，没有适足住房，没有足够食物，没有任何基本权利和服务，使他们失去开创美好未来的机会。
 

也许是因为他们受到歧视性法律或做法的特别排斥，无法抓住机会。也许是因为他们没有国籍，虽然咎不在己，却成为到处都不予承认的公民，因此不仅没有发言权，而且官方根本不承认他们的存在。
 

也许理由很简单，他们的领导者一心想要保住自己的权力和财富，根本不顾被统治者的死活。他们所给予的仅有的一点，不过是为了安抚民心，平息抗议。任何人如果冥顽不灵，胆敢大声疾呼，他们就会把这些人关起来，施加酷刑，或以其他手法来转移他们的注意力，扼杀他们的声音，或使他们失踪。
 

但在过去两年，许多国家的人民提高了要求，明确表示“他们所给予的那仅有的一点”已经远远不够。在许多国家，不仅在中东和北非，而且也在世界其他地区，他们敢于就关系到各种公民、政治、社会、文化和经济根本权利的问题与政府对峙。
 

最近几个月，践踏权利的极端事例在一些国家层出不穷。数以千计的男女老幼被酷刑折磨至死，被强奸、轰炸、炮击、枪杀，被迫离开家园，被本国政府或武装团伙断绝粮食、水电和医疗卫生。这一切显然只是为了维护政权。这些政府和非国家行为者的所作所为，完全与我们在人权日所庆祝的一切背道而驰。
 

许多人为争取自己应有的权利历尽艰辛，在其他国家的许多人，无论是在圣地亚哥或开罗、雅典或莫斯科、纽约或新德里，也以特有的方式表明：我们有发言权，我们享有权利，我们希望参与治理我们的社会和经济。今天，我向所有这些人致敬。
 

因为这理当如此。

英文版：

Statement by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Human Rights Day - 10 December 2012

Millions of people have gone on to the streets over the past few years, in countries all across the world, emboldened by what is happening elsewhere, some demanding civil and political rights, others demanding economic, social and cultural rights.

This groundswell is not simply a question of people demanding freedom of expression and freedom to say what they think and make clear what they want.

They are asking for much more than that. They are asking for an end to a situation where governments simply decide what is best for their populations without even consulting them. They are asking for their right to participate fully in the important decisions and policies affecting their daily lives, at the international, national and the local levels. Many people in many countries have been making it clear they are fed up with their leaders treating them with disdain and ignoring their needs, ambitions, fears and desires.

They have been, in effect, asking for what has been, for more than sixty years, under international law, rightfully theirs. They have been asking for the human rights laid down in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – which is commemorated every year on 10 December – and subsequently fleshed out in other binding international treaties.

Every citizen shall have the right and the opportunity to take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives. Every person shall have the right to vote and be elected, and to have access to public service, as well as to free expression, assembly and association. These are among the rights enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which 167 States are party. And they have been restated in many similar ways in other laws and documents.

These rights are supposed to apply to everyone. No one should be excluded from any of them because they are female, belong to a minority, or worship a certain religion; or because they are gay, have a disability, have particular political beliefs, are migrants or belong to a certain racial or ethnic group. We all should have a voice that counts in our societies. We should all have free, active and meaningful participation in both economic and political affairs.

Unfortunately, many people don’t.

Instead they are ignored. Or, worse, they are actively persecuted, and the people who are trying to help them gain their rights – the human rights defenders – are intimidated, threatened, and persecuted as well. Sometimes, it is less deliberate, more insidious: certain individuals or groups are simply not given the opportunity: the opportunity to raise their voice, or use their brains and talents to achieve the successes of which they are capable, to climb out of poverty or achieve high office – or even any office.

Many millions of people cannot even dream of aiming high, they just dream of getting by – of surviving until tomorrow.

That may be because they have not been to school, or because they have no health care, no adequate shelter, insufficient food, and none of the basic rights and services that would give them the opportunity to build a better future.

Or it may be because they are specifically excluded from seizing opportunities by discriminatory laws or practices. Or because, through no fault of their own, they are stateless, citizens of nowhere, and therefore not only do not have a voice, but do not officially exist.

Or it may simply be because their leaders are so focused on their own grip on power and wealth that they simply don’t care what happens to those whose lives they govern. They’ll give just enough to keep people quiet and stop them protesting. If they are obstinate and raise their voice, they will lock them up, torture them or find other ways to distract them, silence them or make them disappear.

But in the past two years, people in many countries have raised the stakes, and made it clear that “just enough” is no longer good enough. In many countries, they have confronted their governments head on, not just in the Middle East and North Africa, but in other parts of the world as well, on issues covering the full range of fundamental civil, political, social, cultural and economic rights.

In a number of countries in recent months, we have continued to see the most extreme examples of rights being trampled underfoot. Many thousands of men, women and children tortured to death, raped, bombed, shelled, shot, forced from their homes, deprived of food, water, electricity and health care by their own governments or by armed groups, apparently intent on nothing more than their own hold on power. These are governments and non-state actors who are continuing to behave in a way that is the complete antithesis of everything we celebrate on Human Rights Day.

Today, I salute all those who have suffered so much seeking what is rightfully theirs, and all those people in other countries who in their own way – whether it is in Santiago or Cairo, Athens or Moscow, New York or New Delhi – are also saying we have a voice, we have our rights and we want to participate in the way our societies and economies are run.

Because that is how it should be.

ENDS

*The designated theme for Human Rights Day 2012 is “Inclusion and the right to participate in public life.”