Friday 5: Human Rights Advent Calendar Day 13

Yesterday was Human Rights Day (and the computer swallowed my post) so here is a Friday Five on human rights.

  1. Human Rights are rooted for me in Genesis 1.27 which proclaims that all are made in the image of God.  It is a remarkable insight - Jewish slaves in exile proclaiming that all people (including their persecutors) are to be valued just because they are human.             
  2. Amnesty International has been part of my life since I was 15.  Their simple but personal way of writing on behalf of prisoners of conscience is an amazing thing to do.  Why not take a simple action today?
  3. Human Rights are inconvenient, but only in so far as human beings are inconvenient.  Those who want to be exempt from them because they are inconvenient should be watched closely.  That includes the Church of England, and the Conservative Government.
  4. Human Rights came home even more strongly to me as the second Gulf war started.  When the US were happily avoiding human rights by sending suspected terrorists to Guantanamo Bay, my brother was on the front line in Iraq.  The question I was faced with was 'If we don't respect human rights, why should anyone else?'
  5. Even Donald Trump has human rights.  So whilst the petition to keep him out of the country is funny, acting on it wouldn't be.


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