Tony Blair Faith Foundation — On Human Rights Day: Hansdeep Singh

Summary of conversation between ICAAD Director of Legal Programs, Hansdeep Singh, and students from five schools in the U.S. and Canada. Event was hosted by the Tony Blair Faith Foundation (TBFF) as part of its Faith to Face program. Event was hosted on Human Rights Day, Dec. 10th.

The students participating in #Face2Faith came prepared with insightful and difficult questions. The discussion covered topics such as: nuclear disarmament, manifesting one’s religious identity, discrimination in the context of hate crimes, women’s rights (specifically violence against women), lack of State accountability mechanisms in the UN, and what impact the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) 64 years ago have on today’s global human rights issues.

The important take away from these discussions were trying to identify that we all share a common humanity irrespective of whether our belief systems (religious or secular) differ, that the concept of American exceptionalism falls short when we can’t ratify human rights treaties that we played a decisive role in developing, (i.e. CEDAW, CRPD, CRC etc.) and that instead of touting ourselves as exceptional and being a beacon for the rest of the world, the U.S. should focus on leading by example.

Additionally, although the UDHR is an aspirational document lacking binding force, it is a vital document that has laid the framework for human rights instruments for over six decades. Furthermore, holding States accountable through UN mechanisms has not succeeded and hopefully the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) maybe one mechanism that allows all interested parties to have a voice and makes possible the ability for NGOs to hold states’ accountable for their promises to act on specific recommendations.

And finally, intervening in civil wars, genocides, and ongoing mass atrocities is a very delicate balance between protection of civilian populations and state sovereignty. Yet, the UN is often held captive by the awesome power bestowed on the UN Security Council and its five permanent members who individually have full veto power to stop any form of intervention to prevent mass atrocities. This balance of power must shift, so that the global community can act swiftly to protect civilian lives.

This was the gist of a very productive conversation and I hope to be a part of this program again in the coming years.