Remembering the
prisoners of conscience (I)
Human Rights Day
& Eritrea under oppression
By Habtom
Yohannes
December 10, 2004
Article 19
Everyone has the right to
freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold
opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
When I was working at the African Studies Centre in the
University of Leiden , in the Netherlands , the staff gave me a
wonderful gift. They are large posters by African artists with each
poster representing one article from the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. As you probably could imagine Article 19 is my favourite one and
that is why I put the poster in a frame and hang it in our living room.
Below is the whole Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Please read
and contemplate. And after this short introduction you might read a poem
as a tribute for our imprisoned compatriots whether they are
journalists, laymen, believers or politicians.
On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United
Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. It is my prayer and hope that next year all Eritrean prisoners
of conscience will be freed, dictatorship dismantled and all prisons
transformed into educational centres, where youngsters will learn human
rights as a respected subject.
But for today, while many countries are celebrating
this sacred day in total freedom and liberty, the Asmara regime has
denied our people from joining the international in celebrating and
debating the fundamentals of human beings and the basics of
international behaviour. The Asmara regime has been spitting on this
sacred international document by shelving the Eritrean Constitution
which is based on the same international document and by prosecuting
critics, journalists and believers; actually by changing what was once a
promising nation into an open prison.
This will not last long. As history has proven time and
time again dictatorships are short-lived. The spirit of this document is
much stronger than the hollow slogans of dictatorships. Stay tuned
compatriots; this strong spirit of justice will crush the powers of
oppression inside and outside Eritrea . One by one all communist
dictatorships, the apartheid regime in South Africa, black dictatorships
in Africa, Latino totalitarian regimes in Middle and South America,
authoritarian regimes in Asia have been crumbling at amazing speed. The
Asmara regime will not be an exception: sooner or later it will
certainly fall to pieces. Until then we must remember every day and
night all those who have been imprisoned, tortured and executed in the
dungeons of the dictatorship.
Remembering my brothers and sisters behind
the prison
Remembering is dreaming for the future
Struggling
and keeping hope alive, nurture
What we have inherited from our
martyrs
From our fathers and mothers,
Indeed from our sisters and brothers
Who have lost,
sacrificed themselves
Among the wild in the deserts
To protect
human rights
All of you prosecuted for your creed
For your
defiance words of deed
Never kneel down until freed
Dictatorship
down you will win
What did I say?
You will win is a mistake
Because you have already won
Trembling the dictator from your
prison
You don’t put a weak in a cage
Those domestic
animals without bravery
No, cage is for those lions with
courage
Who throw dictators into the history of garbage?
We have journalists
We have dedicated
politicians
We have committed tegadelti, servants
We have
true believers
Put in prison just for no reason
Argument lost run
for treason
Show of force detain
A regime of subversion
People of integrity
Irrespective of religion
ethnicity
You have won my respect and modesty
Chose torture for my
own liberty
Prison walls are cracking
Human Rights is
working
Dictatorship is crumbling
Please persevere for a short
time being
Receive our warm greetings
From the Diaspora inside
Asmara
Keren Washington Mendefera
Soon we will pull our own
strings
UNIVERSAL DECLARATION
OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the
equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the
foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have
resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of
mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy
freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been
proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,
Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled
to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and
oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,
Whereas it is essential to promote the development of
friendly relations between nations,
Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the
Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the
dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and
women and have determined to promote social progress and better
standards of life in larger freedom,
Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to
achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of
universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental
freedoms,
Whereas a common understanding of these rights and
freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this
pledge,
Now, therefore,
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as
a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the
end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this
Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education
to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive
measures, national and international, to secure their universal and
effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member
States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their
jurisdiction.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and
rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act
towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set
forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as
race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion,
national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis
of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country
or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent,
trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and the
security of person.
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery
and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a
person before the law.
All are equal before the law and are entitled without
any discrimination to equal protection against any discrimination in
violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such
discrimination.
Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the
competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights
granted him by the constitution or by law.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest,
detention or exile.
Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair, and
public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the
determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge
against him.
- Everyone charged with a penal
offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty
according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the
guarantees necessary for his defence.
- No one shall be held guilty of
any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not
constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at
the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed
than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was
committed.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference
with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon
his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of
the law against such interference or attacks.
- Everyone has the right to
freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each
State.
- Everyone has the right to leave
any country, including his own, and to return to his country.
- Everyone has the right to seek
and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
- This right may not be invoked
in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political
crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the
United Nations.
- Everyone has the right to a
nationality.
- No one shall be arbitrarily
deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his
nationality.
- Men and women of full age,
without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the
right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal
rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
- Marriage shall be entered into
only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
- The family is the natural and
fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by
society and the State.
- Everyone has the right to own
property alone as well as in association with others.
- No one shall be arbitrarily
deprived of his property.
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought,
conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his
religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with
others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in
teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion
and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without
interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas
through any media and regardless of frontiers.
- Everyone has the right to
freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
- No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
- Everyone has the right to take
part in the government of his country, directly or through freely
chosen representatives.
- Everyone has the right of equal
access to public service in his country.
- The will of the people shall be
the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed
in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and
equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free
voting procedures.
Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to
social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort
and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization
and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights
indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his
personality.
- Everyone has the right to work,
to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of
work and to protection against unemployment.
- Everyone, without any
discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
- Everyone who works has the
right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his
family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if
necessary, by other means of social protection.
- Everyone has the right to form
and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including
reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.
- Everyone has the right to a
standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself
and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care
and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event
of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other
lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
- Motherhood and childhood are
entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in
or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
- Everyone has the right to
education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and
fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory.
Technical and professional education shall be made generally available
and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis
of merit.
- Education shall be directed to
the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening
of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote
understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or
religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United
Nations for the maintenance of peace.
- Parents have a prior right to
choose the kind of education that shall be given to their
children.
- Everyone has the right freely to participate in the
cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in
scientific advancement and its benefits.
- Everyone has the right to the
protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any
scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.
Everyone is entitled to a social and international
order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can
be fully realized.
- Everyone has duties to the
community in which alone the free and full development of his
personality is possible.
- In the exercise of his rights
and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as
are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due
recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of
meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the
general welfare in a democratic society.
- These rights and freedoms may
in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the
United Nations.
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as
implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any
activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the
rights and freedoms set forth herein.
Created on July 6, 1994 / Last edited on January 27,
1997
Part
II ..........
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