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Universal Declaration of Human Rights
December 10, 2022
In the wake of the carnage of World War II, the United Nations issued, on the 10th of December, 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and marked the 10th of December of every year International Human Rights Day. That declaration affirms every individual's entitlement to fundamental human rights, including being free from torture, freedom of speech, rights of privacy and of protection.
Today, in the People's Republic of China and in the formerly free city of Hong Kong, people do not enjoy even a modicum of freedom of expression and thought, freedom of the press, of assembly, the freedom to protest, freedom of religion, and the right to be free from torture.
The government of the People's Republic of China and its puppets in Hong Kong crack down on the slightest signs of dissent, of people expressing an opinion that differs from that of the government's. People are being incarcerated for gathering to protest, for writing or for saying the wrong words, words deemed unacceptable by those in power.
Within China, Uyghurs, Tibetans, Falun Gung practitioners, Christians and Catholics, are being persecuted and prosecuted for their culture and their beliefs. The Chinese government is carrying out a systematic genocide of the Uyghur and Tibetan peoples, aiming at eliminating the culture and beliefs, and to "sinicize" these ethnic minorities. Falun Gung practitioners are jailed and their organs harvested. Christians and Catholics are being persecuted and incarcerated for practicing their religion.
In Hong Kong, people are being jailed without trial, for assembling to protest, and even for putting their names forward as candidates for election. People arrested range from young children to the very elderly, including media tycoon Jimmy Lai as well as Cardinal Joseph Zen.
How ironic that the People's Republic of China is a member nation of the United Nations' Human Rights Council. This is an insult to the noble aspirations of that august body.
Most recently, both Mainlanders in China and Hong Kongers took part in a "White Paper Revolution", where people held up blank sheets of paper in Hong Kong in support of the Chinese people in protesting the Chinese Communist Party's harsh COVID-19 rules. Even in the face of suppression and oppression, people in Hong Kong and China are beginning to rise up to Xi Jinping and his party's totalitarian rule and dictatorial regime.
On this International Human Rights Day, our thoughts and prayers are with oppressed people everywhere. We hope and pray that one day they will have the freedom and rights that ought to be fundamental possessions of every human person.