“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”
This was the quote Ms. Ivanka Custodio opened with in her lecture held last Monday, September 16, entitled, Karapatan (Sana All) Human Rights for Everyone. The lecture was about human rights, the concept, their principles, the different types of human rights, who has human rights, and who are obligated to uphold human rights.
Human rights are universal and inalienable, interdependent and indivisible, equal and non-discriminatory. There are different types: civil, political, economic, social, and cultural. Human rights are all about equality, which means equal treatment and equal outcome for all people. The people are the right-holders, whoever they are; even criminals have human rights, too. The government, since they are the ones that have the most power, have the obligation of respecting, protecting and fulfilling everyone’s human rights.
This discussion is timely especially with the issues currently in our country today: poverty, extra-judicial killings (EJK), violence against women and children, LGBTQ discrimination (with the SOGIE bill being pored over) – these among many others. With the SOGIE bill being discussed all over the internet, it is easy to see people’s differing opinions about it. A common misconception among straight people against the bill is that it is a threat to and will infringe their rights, which is not true at all. Rights are supposed to be about equality. The bill meant to remove discrimination against members of the LGBTQ, which is still sadly prevalent in our country, not oppress the ones who aren’t members of it. This is only one example.
The president has made a statement in the past that he’s for “human lives over human rights,” implying that they are mutually exclusive, when the truth is, this is not the case. Human rights and human lives go together. Respecting someone’s rights is respecting their lives and their freedom. If the state, who has the power to fulfill our rights, as well as the power to abuse them, thinks this way, what will become of us?
It is important to speak up and educate others about these issues. As people of service and members of organizations, we must have an approach that emphasizes and upholds the rights of the people. And as individuals, we can do the easiest, most basic, and most essential thing of all: to just respect other people’s rights, no matter how different they may be from us. The rights of others are not a threat to our own. Their rights are our rights. It is for everyone. That’s all there is to it.