Flora Teckie
Rights, privileges and obligations
A Bahá'í Perspective
Flora Teckie
December 10 was globally observed to honour the United Nations' adoption, on 10 December 1948, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Since then, more than a hundred human rights documents or instruments have been adopted at the international and regional levels and ratified by many governments.
These are significant steps. However, greater emphasis must be placed on achieving the objectives of this noble undertaking, and towards responsibilities that accompany the rights.
In the Bahá’í view, “the conviction that we are all citizens of one earth, together with a commitment to the well-being and happiness of all mankind, are the foundation for the realisation of the ideals expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”.
Rights and privileges must go hand in hand with obligations and responsibilities. The concern that each one of us should enjoy freedom of thought and action, which contribute to our personal growth, does not justify only being concerned with our own needs, advantages and benefits.
There is a close link between rights and responsibilities, and we each have the responsibility and obligation to uphold the rights of others, based on the recognition of our unity and interdependence.
For example: the right to be recognised equally before the law implies the responsibility to obey the law. The right to marry carries with it the responsibility to support the family unit, to educate one's children, and to treat all family members with respect.
The right to work cannot be divorced from the responsibility to perform one's duties to the best of one's ability. The right to expect respect implies that one must also respect others. In the broadest sense, ‘universal human rights’ imply a responsibility to humanity as a whole.
The Bahá'í International Community states: “Everyone, individually as well as in association with others, has the right and responsibility to promote the well-being, and respect for the rights, freedoms, identity and human dignity, of all other members of his or her local and national communities, as well as the international community, and to promote the well-being and respect for the identity of these communities as a whole”.
Obviously, to know and endorse universal human rights is not enough: we need to have moral attributes – such as justice and fairness, courtesy and cooperation, honesty and trustworthiness – that lead to applying such knowledge and respecting the rights of others.
Observing human rights, and justice towards everyone, will only be possible through a conscious belief in the principle of the oneness of humanity, and considering all as citizens of one world. As Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá’í Faith, stated over one hundred years ago: "The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens”.
Bahá’u’lláh describes the main challenge facing humanity today in the following words: "The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established”.
For human rights to become a reality, all forms of prejudice must be eliminated; the extremes of wealth and poverty should be done away with; and gender equality must be observed.
All efforts towards enforcing international human rights norms will be positive steps in aligning the work of governments with the principles of justice. And as individuals, we each have a role to play, and responsibility and obligation towards implementing fundamental human rights.
With every successive moral battle – whether focused on eradicating racism, discrimination against women, or overcoming national and ethnic prejudices – humanity breaks down yet another barrier to peace, and raises another pillar of a more just global community.
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