While the G8 summit ends with the usual runway, deals between the powerful for the good of the world that you never know if will be ever respected and some inevitable police arrest, human rights abuses have been going on as usual. In Xinjiang China repress the Uighurs revolt in blood, Iran repress with violence the demonstration of the opposition, Honduras is completely unstable after an oligarchic coup, the war continues in Afghanistan with the Taliban and the coalition forces that make a race to those who kill more innocent civilians and violence against the population on ethnic grounds didn't stop in Iraq, despite the withdrawal of Americans from the cities.
Then there are the endemic cases, countries where human rights violations are continuing and often unknown, such as Somalia in the grip of the Islamic militia, Sudan where the government continues to massacre minorities, Gaza exhausted from Israel embargo, Sri Lanka where Tamil refugees languish in camps without being allowed by the government to return to their homes, despite the victory over the rebels. And these are just the crisis became famous on media in recent times, but certainly not the only human rights abuses worldwide. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1948, when it was thought that after defeating the Nazis would have been possible to create a more just world. But was not applied as universally as one could hope, and even the movement for human rights begun in 1968 weren't able to make it a set of principles inalienable and really respected.
The United States and Europe first, which theoretically should respect those rights, had not too many scruples in supporting murderous regimes depending on the economic and political convenience of the moment. Even now no one has the slightest intention of affecting the excellent on-going business with China, not to mention the substantial part of the american public debt that China has in hand. A similar situation applies to Iran, with which Europe has done for years lucrative trade. But the presence of a strong trade should and could be an effective means of pressure against certain governments to push them at least a minimum to respect the rights of their population. The overall impression however is that G8 nations don't care at all about human rights. Indeed in the various G8 they never talks about them. Doing business, talking about money and then advertise some alms for the poor. Twenty billion dollars in three years, but we have to see if and how they will be actually spent, given the history of some countries. And the money anyway is much less than it seems, because in the world there are a billion people who suffer from hunger. Twenty dollars for each of them in three years are not that great figure. But could be useful, if invested in effective local development projects.
For now the truth is that the declaration of human rights, starting from the right to life and food is only a piece of paper. Rich states have proved unable to implement it, and probably have never really wanted to do it, mainly because they are very interested in other pieces of paper. The public opinion in rich countries has done something but most people remain uninformed and disinterested in what's happening in the world. The only hope for the future, because the world does not become a slave to increasingly powerful and immoral multinational industries and repressive governments, is the gradual increase in knowledge and communication. The web can do much for human rights, perhaps more than anything else. The web has made it possible, despite the repression and censorship, at least in part to know what's happening in China and Iran, and in many other countries. If the Internet is able to spread in countries where it is now virtually absent, as in many parts of Africa, if users of the web will become the majority in the world, if they can avoid and prevent the censorship then the world could really change. The Declaration of Human Rights for now is only a piece of paper, but the violations of human rights, as common as they are, can only happen when no one sees and few know. But if they occur in front of the eyes of the world is much more difficult that they remain unpunished and ignored.
Francesco Defferrari
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