Celebrate Human Rights on December 10
November - December 2008
After learning that Christian leaders were at the table 60 years ago during the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, Christian Albers took on a mission to interview as many human rights activists acting on their faith as he could.
Albers, a vicar from Germany and program assistant at the Lutheran Office for World Community, has compiled the series of interviews on a Web site
humanrightschurch.org, launched to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the declaration on December 10. This declaration was fundamental to the founding of the United Nations and continues to influence that body.
The subjects of his interviews explain why churches must be involved in promoting and protecting human rights, and they speak from diverse perspectives from countries that include Argentina, Tanzania, El Salvador, United States, Liberia, Germany and India.
“The stories people tell come alive on a video,” said Albers, explaining why he started the project. “This Web site can be seen easily around the world; you don’t need access to special U.N. documents to understand human rights.”
Congregations can use Albers’ educational video as well as other tools to mark the anniversary on December 10. For ideas to celebrate the anniversary, visit
everyhumanhasrights.org.
December 10 “will be a
kairos — an appropriate time — for the ecumenical movement to reconnect with the cause of human rights. Churches can make of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration an opportunity for human rights ‘evangelism,’” said Peter Prove, assistant to the general secretary for International Affairs and Human Rights at the Lutheran World Federation in Geneva, Switzerland.
According to Prove, church bodies have moral authority, broad reach, capacity for education and ability to build bridges with other faith traditions and civil society. All this puts them in a unique position to influence international mechanisms for the protection of human rights.
The Lutheran Office for World Community in New York is a shared ministry of the ELCA and the Lutheran World Federation that advocates for dignity and justice for all people and works for peace and reconciliation among nations.