[hr-education] 10th World Russian People's Council: Declaration on Human Rights and Dignity

Dear colleagues,

On April 6 the 10th World Russian People's Council adopted the Declaration
on Human Rights and Dignity which official text in English is proposed to
your attention. Though this Declaration were criticized severely by most
known human rights activists in Russia and I, as an atheist, cannot share
this deeply religious approach, I think there are some very interesting
and important ideas to be duscussed.

Yours,
Roman Sinelnikov


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Aware that the world, passing through a crucial point in its history, is
facing a threat of conflict between the civilizations with their different
understanding of the human being and the human being's calling, - the
World Russian People's Council, on behalf of the unique Russian
civilization, adopts this declaration:

Each person as image of God has singular unalienable worth, which must be
respected by every one of us, the society and state. It is by doing good
that the human being gains dignity. Thus we distinguish between human
worth and dignity. Worth is given, while dignity is acquired.

The eternal moral law has a solid foundation in the human soul,
independent of one's culture, ethnic origin or life circumstances. This
foundation is laid down by the Creator in human nature and manifested in
human conscience. The voice of conscience however can be muffled by sin.
Precisely for this reason the religious tradition that has God as its
Origin is called to help discern between good and evil.

We discern two kinds of freedom: inner freedom from evil and freedom of
moral choice. Freedom from evil is valuable per se, while the freedom of
choice becomes valuable and the person gains dignity inasmuch as the
chosen alternative is good.

Conversely, the freedom of choice leads to self-destruction and loss of
human dignity when the choice is evil.

Human rights are based on the worth of the person and should have as their
goal the realization of the person's human dignity. Therefore, human
rights essentially involve morality. Any separation of these rights from
morality means their profanation, for there is no such thing as immoral
dignity.

We are for the right to life and against the "right" to death; for the
right to creation and against the "right" to destruction. Human rights and
liberties are effective in as much as they help the individual to grow in
good, defend the individual from evil within and without, promote the
individual's positive role in society. It is in this perspective that we
respect not only civil and political rights and liberties, but also
social, economical and cultural rights.

Rights and liberties are inseparable from human obligations and
responsibilities.

The individual in pursuit of personal interests is called to relate them
to those of the neighbor, family, community, nation and all humanity.

There are values no smaller than human rights. These are faith, morality,
the sacred, motherland. Whenever these values come into conflict with the
implementation of human rights, the task of the society, state and law is
to bring both to harmony. It is unacceptable, in pursuit of human rights,
to oppress faith and moral tradition, insult religious and national
feelings, cause harm to revered holy objects and sites, jeopardize the
motherland. Likewise we see as dangerous the "invention" of such "rights"
as to legitimize a behavior condemned by both the traditional morality and
historical religions.

We reject the policy of double standards with regard to human rights, as
well as attempts to use them for political, ideological, military and
economical purposes, for imposition of a particular socio-political
system.

We are willing to cooperate with the state and all benevolent forces in
ensuring human rights. Particularly important for this cooperation are
such endeavors as preserving the rights of nations and ethnic groups to
their religion, language and culture, defending the freedom of conscience
and the right of believers to their own way of life, combating ethnically
and religiously motivated crime, protecting against arbitrary actions by
the authorities and employers, concern for the rights of servicemen,
defending the children's rights, taking care of inmates and other persons
in state custody, protecting the victims of destructive sects, opposing
total control over private life and personal convictions, preventing
people from being involved in crime, corruption, slave trade,
prostitution, drug addiction, compulsive gambling.

We seek dialog with people of diverse faiths and views on human rights and
their place in the hierarchy of values. Like nothing else, this dialogue
today will help avoid the conflict of civilizations and attain a peaceful
diversity of worldviews, cultures, legal and political systems on the
globe. The future of people depends on their success in this endeavor.

 

 

 
======== Global Human Rights Education listserv =======
Send mail intended for the list to <         >.
Archives of the list can be found at:
http://www.hrea.org/lists/hr-education/
**You are welcome to reprint, copy, archive, quote or re-post this
item, but please retain the original and listserv source.