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Showing posts with label The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Show all posts

Friday, September 5, 2025

"Human rights don’t change with the seasons, political winds, or trends. They are timeless. In an increasingly polarised world, they help to unite us. No matter where we live or what we believe, we all want safety and peace for ourselves & those we love." Volker Türk #United Nations #GoldenRuleThinking

Volker Türk

Human rights don’t change with the seasons, political winds, or trends. They are timeless. 
 
In an increasingly polarised world, they help to unite us.  No matter where we live or what we believe, we all want safety and peace for ourselves & those we love.
 
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights | Chief 
 
 


Terrorism and violent extremism

Terrorism involves the intimidation or coercion of populations or governments through the threat or perpetration of violence. This may result in death, serious injury or the taking of hostages. These acts must be prevented, and the financing, movement and activity of terrorist networks stopped, in order to prevent future violations of human rights.

The victims of terrorism must also have access to an effective remedy and reparations. Victims of terrorism and extremism can play a crucial role in building stronger, more resilient societies.

Terrorism and violent extremism violate the human rights and fundamental freedoms of groups and individuals. However, States define terrorism in different, sometimes ambiguous ways, so domestic legislation does not always protect the human rights of citizens.

AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]

Monday, September 1, 2025

Dear America- Why is an America that fought to save Europe from the Nazi Holocaust want to be part of the Zionist Holocaust that is raging in a land called holy by all three Abrahamic faiths ?!!

"We need a world where every child is in school & learning, safe from harm and able to fulfill their potential. Stand with children in their call for peace #ForEveryChild, everywhere." UNITED NATIONS

letter I just sent to all my elected leaders 

Dear America,

I read with utter horror the Israeli plans for Gaza in the Washington Post 8-31-2025: "Gaza postwar plan envisions ‘voluntary’ relocation of entire population"

Sick minds and greedy people carefully thought out how best to profit from the ongoing forced displacement of the native non-Jewish men, women and children of historic Palestine.

Religious persecution is evil and wrong- basing citizenship rights and security on a person's religion is recipe for disaster and escalating violence.

Many of our ancestors came to America to escape from religious persecution. So why is America, where church and state are supposed to be fully separate, choosing to back armed Israeli bigotry, injustice and genocidal land grabs ?!

Why is an America that fought to save Europe from the Nazi Holocaust want to be part of the Zionist Holocaust that is raging in a land called holy by all three Abrahamic faiths ?!!

The United Nations and full respect for The Universal Declaration of Human Rights are the right road map towards building a just and lasting peace- start with full support for every refugees inalienable right to return to original homes and lands.

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab

NOTES https://anniesnewletters.blogspot.com/search/label/Notes

"Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world..."   https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

STOP THE SIEGE- stop funding crazy cruel Israeli schemes & the forced displacement, imprisonment, starvation, torture, and killing of human beings in Gaza and Palestine.

"The olive tree is more than a tree in Palestine, it is a heartbeat, a witness, a rooted elder holding centuries in its branches. When Israeli forces and settlers tear these groves from the earth, it is not only roots that are severed, but memory, heritage, and the quiet dreams of generations. Yet even uprooted, the olive carries a stubborn truth: that belonging cannot be erased, and that the land remembers those who loved it." Sliman Mansour of Palestine

A Palestinian farmer in Gaza discovered this mosaic under his orchard in 2022. Who knows what became of the farmer, his family, his home, and the mosaic: As of 27 May 2025, UNESCO has verified damage to 110 sites since 7 October 2023 – 13 religious sites, 77 buildings of historical and/or artistic interest, 3 depositories of movable cultural property, 9 monuments, 1 museum and 7 archeological sites.

Dear America- Israel says it wants the hostages but what Israel has wanted all along is yet another an excuse to grab all the land of historic Palestine and beyond.

Please no more Israeli GHF killing fields or other such Zionist schemes that aim to further harass and destroy the native non-Jewish population of historic Palestine.

Our "friend" Israel does not and never has practiced the rule of fair and just laws with equal rights for all... Zionism is ?!!!!

The Israel Lobby comes in many forms, and I suspect Israeli bribes do too. So in a way American funds sent to support Israel come back in the form of an information war on America, aimed at gathering more funds and lethal weaponry so that Israel can continue USURPING land, rights, and peace... and Occupation Forces can continue harassing and harming any who dare object to such blatant injustice and violence.

I do not know why Zionism went so wrong- but it did...

STOP THE SIEGE- stop funding crazy cruel Israeli checkpoints & the forced displacement, imprisonment, starvation, torture, and killing of human beings in Gaza and Palestine.

Stop forcing us to be wage slaves for Israeli racism and escalating war... #MandelaDay is an opportunity to honor Mandela's commitment to freedom, justice & equality.

White Supremacist violence and injustice makes the world an increasingly dangerous place for all who disagree with White Supremacists- Nazi Germany under Hitler then, and both American and Israeli White Supremacists in positions of power now.

SUPPORT House Resolution 317 - Urging the United States to lead the world back from the brink of nuclear war and halt and reverse the nuclear arms race 2025... and please stop trusting Israel to give US good advice and intel.

The Texas floods killing children are a heartbreaking natural disaster, whereas Israel armed with American weaponry killing children is a cruel choice made by human beings who really should know better.

Happy Fourth of July... Happy that we have the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, The Bill of Rights, The Rule of Fair and Just laws, and all the brave civil rights heroes through out our history who helped America become a more real democracy for all people... Not so happy that America is funding and arming Israel's ongoing violations of international law and human rights in both Gaza and the West Bank.

Set the right example by scorning violence and racist hate... The world does not need more weapons of war. We need to prioritize peace and progress with respect for ALL human beings, regardless of supposed race or religion.

Invest in the people's needs... Be for real freedom, justice, true equality, and respect for all of humankind!

Stand up for international law and Human Rights, not the weapons industry.

PLEASE SCORN VIOLENCE and stop arming Israel with lethal weaponry plus dumb excuses to cause cruel harm to others!

We should be supporting the people's needs, not state sponsored terrorism and the intentional starvation and torture of children.

Life is not a video game. These are real human beings and American made weaponry has been creating a Holocaust with The Rule of Lawlessness in the Holy Land.

Taxpayers' money should not be shoring up greed, corporate corruption, injustice, and war.

Please, let Golden Rule thinking and the rule of fair and just laws guide US all towards a better way forward.

State sponsored violence is not the way to convince vulnerable people to veer away from arming religious tyranny and terrorism.

Criticizing Israel is not Anti-Semitic. Calling for respect for human rights and the rule of fair and just laws is not Anti-Semitic. Countering the poisonous propaganda of a very foreign rogue nation state that interferes with our elections and our free speech is not Anti-Semitic... Americans should not be funding, arming, and/or excusing Israel in any way, shape, or form.

Please stop fueling corporate corruption, WAR, and escalating suffering for countless men, women, and children. 

Israel, armed with American made weaponry and political support, invests in religious extremism and sets up families to be canon fodder for religious wars.... Israel claims to be Jewish, but what it really is is a cruel war machine that has been aggressively grabbing land, rights, and peace from the people of historic Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. 

Hate crimes are escalating here in America with people primed by Zionism to think, say and do horrible things...

Don't let American weaponry or words inspire even more religious extremism, terrorism, and state sponsored brutality world-wide

Slavery, Segregation and Forced Displacement are wrong. Wrong then and wrong now. 

Please do not demonize and silence or destroy people who speak out peacefully against corruption, injustice, racism, bigotry, and violence of every type. 

The best idea is to start with full support for fair and just laws based on full respect for basic human rights.

Frankly every Holocaust Museum on earth should have a wing added explaining the very real plight and suffering of the native non-Jewish Palestinians. 75 years and counting...

America should not help Israel commit crimes against humanity.

 
Emily Jacir, Memorial to 418 Palestinian Villages Which Were Destroyed, Depopulated, and Occupied by Israel in 1948, 2021, refugee tent, embroidery thread, record book

Tuesday, July 29, 2025

*International Law makes it abundantly clear that every one- every person and every refugee- has an inalienble right to leave and to return to their homes and lands. That is why Israel wants to undermine and abolish the United Nations and UNWRA.

 from IMEU  https://imeu.org/article/the-right-of-return-palestinian-refugees

 [AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies] 

Fact Sheet: Palestinian Refugees & The Right of Return Under International Law

May 05, 2024 chris
Fact Sheet: Palestinian Refugees & The Right of Return Under International Law
  • Palestinian refugees are Palestinians who were expelled from their homes and homeland by Israel during and after the state’s establishment in 1948.

  • Under international law, all refugees have a right to return to areas from which they have fled or were forced, to receive compensation for damages, and to either regain their properties or receive compensation and support for voluntary resettlement. This right derives from a number of sources, including customary international law, international humanitarian law governing rights of civilians during war, and human rights law. The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights states in Article 13(2) that "[e]veryone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and return to his own country."
  • In December 1948, following Israel's establishment based on the ethnic cleansing of approximately 750,000 Palestinians, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 194, which states:

"refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible."

  • The right of return for Palestinian refugees has been affirmed repeatedly by the UN General Assembly, including through Resolution 3236, which "Reaffirms also the inalienable right of the Palestinians to return to their homes and property from which they have been displaced and uprooted, and calls for their return."
  • The Palestinian right of return has also been recognized by human rights organizations like Amnesty International, which issued a policy statement on the subject in 2001. It concluded:

“Amnesty International calls for Palestinians who fled or were expelled from Israel, the West Bank or Gaza Strip, along with those of their descendants who have maintained genuine links with the area, to be able to exercise their right to return.”

  • According to a statement issued by Human Rights Watch in 2000:

“HRW urges Israel to recognize the right to return for those Palestinians, and their descendants, who fled from territory that is now within the State of Israel, and who have maintained appropriate links with that territory. This is a right that persists even when sovereignty over the territory is contested or has changed hands.”

  • The right of refugees to return to homes and lands they were expelled from is an individual right and cannot be unilaterally abrogated by third parties.
     

Go deeper

Sunday, June 29, 2025

The UN Charter “brought rules and hope to a world in ruins”, Secretary-General António Guterres told a virtual ceremony on Friday [June 2020] commemorating 75 years since the Organization’s foundational text was signed... Eighty years on, UN Charter marked by reflection, resolve- and a run [2025]

Its preamble – “We the peoples of the United Nations” – echoed the determination to prevent future conflict, reaffirm faith in human rights, and promote peace and social progress.

It is the bedrock of international relations

General Assembly commemorates 80th anniversary of the signing of UN Charter.
UN Photo/Loey Felipe
General Assembly commemorates 80th anniversary of the signing of UN Charter.

Eighty years on, UN Charter marked by reflection, resolve – and a run

UN Affairs

To save succeeding generations from the scourge of war

General Assembly President Philémon Yang described the moment as “symbolic” but somber, noting ongoing conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, and the growing challenges to multilateralism.

He urged nations to choose diplomacy over force and uphold the Charter’s vision of peace and human dignity: “We must seize the moment and choose dialogue and diplomacy instead of destructive wars.”

Secretary-General António Guterres echoed this call, warning that the Charter’s principles are increasingly under threat and must be defended as the bedrock of international relations.

The Charter of the United Nations is not optional. It is not an à la carte menu. It is the bedrock of international relations,” he said, stressing the need to recommit to its promises “for peace, for justice, for progress, for we the peoples.”

Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Security Council President for June, emphasized the urgency of renewed collective action to address emerging global threats.

Let this 80th anniversary of the Charter be not just an occasion for reflection, but also a call to action,” she urged.

To unite our strength to maintain international peace and security

Eighty years ago, on 26 June 1945, delegates from 50 countries gathered in San Francisco to sign a document that would change the course of history.

Forged in the aftermath of the Second World War, by a generation scarred by the Great Depression and the Holocaust and having learnt the painful lessons of the League of Nations’ collapse, the Charter of the United Nations represented a new global pact.

Its preamble – “We the peoples of the United Nations” – echoed the determination to prevent future conflict, reaffirm faith in human rights, and promote peace and social progress.

That very document, preserved by the United States National Archives and Records Administration, has returned – for the first time in decades – to the heart of the institution it founded.

Now on public display at UN Headquarters through September, the original Charter stands as a powerful symbol: not just of a past promise, but of an enduring commitment to multilateralism, peace and shared purpose... READ MORE  https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/06/1164976

News Tracker: Past Stories on This Issue

2020 UN marks 75-year milestone anniversary of founding Charter  

The UN Charter “brought rules and hope to a world in ruins”, Secretary-General António Guterres told a virtual ceremony on Friday [June 2020] commemorating 75 years since the Organization’s foundational text was signed.... READ MORE  https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/06/1067242

Thursday, June 26, 2025

Dear America- Invest in the people's needs... Be for real freedom, justice, true equality, and respect for all of humankind!

 Dear America,

Today, Thursday June 26th 2025 is Charter Day.  80 years ago, 50 nations met in San Francisco, USA, to create a new organization for peace, prosperity & human rights.  https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter

Big beautiful human rights & dignity should always be our priority! 

Please in every budget prioritize funding Libraries and PBS and museums and parks and true charity and healthcare for those in need so that we the people are free to learn and study and appreciate the world- and free to be better citizens.  

Don't be an Israeli-firster & war monger. Seek to invest in peace and diplomacy and real democracy in every possible way:  Be for real freedom, justice, true equality, and respect for all of humankind!

America's Israel-firsters push money away from American needs into weapons of war so that Israel armed with American money and weaponry can target, bomb, and destroy any individual, family, home, refugee camp, hospital, school, organization, or country that dares object to the continued persecution and impoverishment of Palestinians. 

Today, ignoring Israeli violence and Zionist cruelty as Israeli policies and warfare guarantee that babies starve and die in Gaza makes America look bad- and very very stupid. 

Utterly incompetent our fourth estate- our free press, our elected politicians, and far too many of our religious leaders foolishly ignore racist Israel's escalating violations of international law and the very real plight and suffering of the native non-Jewish men, women, and children of historic Palestine.

America should be supporting and funding the United Nations & UNWRA not that Israeli-American killing zone concoction called the GHF, the Gaza "Humanitarian" Foundation.  

Peace, prosperity and human rights. The ideals spelled out in the United Nations Charter are even more relevant today in this age of interconnected technology and sophisticated weaponry. We need more brains- not brawn.

Invest in the people's needs.

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab

NOTES https://anniesnewletters.blogspot.com/search/label/Notes

LETTERS https://anniesnewletters.blogspot.com/search/label/letters

WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of life....

"The new mechanism [Israeli-American GHF] is an abomination that costs lives. It humiliates and degrades desperate people, concentrating them in ghetto-like hubs, from which they can be more easily displaced. This is the grotesque culmination of 20 months of inaction and impunity, during which more than 55,000 people have been reported killed – mostly women and children... [PLUS] The occupied West Bank is now under lockdown. Additional restrictions on the movement of people and goods, are intensifying the impact of brutal military operations by the Israeli Security Forces, and rampant violence by Israeli settlers."

 The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) was mandated by the UN General Assembly in 1949 to provide services for registered Palestine refugees in the Middle East. For 75 years, UNRWA has been the primary humanitarian provider for nearly 6 million refugees across the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, delivering emergency assistance and development services like education, primary healthcare, food, and shelter. 

On October 28, 2024, the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) passed a devastating vote to ban UNRWA from operating in the occupied Palestinian territory...


Harvard-linked study finds Israel ‘disappeared’ nearly 400,000 Palestinians in Gaza, half of them children: Report The study by a Ben Gurion University professor uses data-driven analysis and spatial mapping to highlight a severe decline in Gaza’s population since October 2023

She dreamed of becoming a journalist. Yaqeen (12 years old) was killed by Israel in Gaza.

MC Abdul - Shouting At The Wall (Official Video)

Dear Israel, When you get bombed after bombing 5 other countries YOU ARE NOT THE VICTIM ! Hands off the Middle East !

The Guardian view on Israel, the US and Iran: you can’t bomb your way out of nuclear proliferation- The age of disarmament is over. But military action only increases the dangers instead of ending the threat

God protect us all from all the idiocy and murderous propaganda...

 Dr. Omar Suleiman

It’s so important for folks in the West to watch media from other parts of the world. The brainwashing colonial era tropes are so potent, especially with populations that have never traveled beyond their borders. God protect us all from all the idiocy and murderous propaganda.

Red line after red line has been crossed in Gaza [by Israel]. Schools bombed [by Israel]. Children killed [by Israel]. Aid centres turned into killing grounds [by Israel].... STOP SUPPORTING WAR CRIMES Red Line for Palestine

"Now, with the genocide in Palestine, we’re faced with a reality in which tens of thousands of Americans are actively involved in war crimes. They are part of an army responsible for the murder of more than 20,000 children in Gaza, where the Economist estimates that Israeli soldiers have killed between 77,000 and 109,000 people, or 4-5% of the territory’s population in 2023."

Tens of thousands of Americans serve in Israel amid genocide, investing in and propagating occupation

In 1948, more than 700,000 Palestinians were displaced from their towns and villages. 77 years later, Palestinians continue to be forcibly displaced. Since the war in #Gaza began, around 1.9 million people have been forced to flee their homes. #WorldRefugeeDay

"The West Bank is on lockdown. This means that the gates Israel spent the last ten years erecting at every village and town entrance are closed— effectively caging Palestinians in their own homes. For years Palestinians protested these practices, non violently, and yet nothing changed. The world still normalized Israel and told Palestinians “it’s not a big deal.” As Palestinians are caged in, Israel has also spent the past two years ensuring agricultural destruction. This means in the West Bank, people don’t have access to lands or farms. It means Palestinians must purchase food from Israel, and everything has become more expensive. Palestinian homes are being rampaged, ransacked, and turned to military bases. Israel has also mass destroyed and demolished thousands of Palestinian homes, and displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians in the last few years. Meanwhile, Israeli settlements are expanding deeper into Palestinian towns and cities, drying water sources, destroying lands, killing & maiming people. What is happening to Palestinians as a whole population is extermination." Mariam Barghouti


Dear America- Stand up for international law and Human Rights, not the weapons industry.


Antisemitic and Islamophobic violence is rising in the United States. Both must stop: We have a duty to call out antisemitism when we see it. We also have an equal duty to remember that Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims are also being targeted

Let's use the best tool we have: EDUCATION against ignorance, prejudice, hatred, genocide

More journalists have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza than in most major wars combined.

The MATH of modern GENOCIDE & the US weapons industry.

"The Holocaust did not start with gas chambers. This hatred gradually developed from words, stereotypes, and prejudice through legal exclusion, dehumanisation and escalatin violence" Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau

Building a Culture of Peace ...

"The United Nations was not created to take mankind to heaven, but to save humanity from hell." ~Dag Hammarskjöld, second Secretary-General of the United Nations

"Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world..."   https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

Sunday, June 15, 2025

It Being Sunday ... a 2025 poem by Anne Selden Annab

"La Liberalité". Texte latin: "Dives in omnes". (Il est riche pour tous). Corne d'abundance. Pierre Le Moyne (1602-1671): De l'art de regner / Le Moyne. Publisher: À Paris : chez Sebastien Cramoisy et Sebastien Mabre-Cramoisy, imprimeurs du Roy.
 

        It Being Sunday


It being Sunday

in a land with many churches

I pray that prayers for peace 

rise up, rise up to sway

people away from war.


Away from bombing children,

pulverizing families,

and homes ... and jobs.


Away from generating enemies.


Away from creating poverty, starvation, suffering...


Might does not make right

nor does armed resistance.


Scorn violence!


We live in an age of computers- the internet

an endless feed of personal truths at our fingertips

with the power of fair and just laws

able to shape a better way forward

for all of humankind.


poem  copyright ©2025 Anne Selden Annab

Thursday, June 5, 2025

People in Gaza have lost everything and need everything ... The only way to help is through the United Nations including UNWRA. UNWRA works. UNWRA has the expertise, experience and resources. The UN, including UNRWA, operated a system in Gaza with 400 distribution points—reaching people where they were. The current model excludes the most vulnerable.

Every day, millions have access to every single thing they need. But in #Gaza, essentials like toothbrushes, sanitary pads, and soap are unavailable. Access to basics is a right, not a privilege.
 
“There has been no safe, dignified and significant aid in #Gaza for more than three months now. 
 
People’s suffering is unconscionable, deepening further on a daily basis.
 
We have got to and must go back to bringing in aid at scale to people wherever they are and deliver it safely. 
 
The only way to do this is through the United Nations including UNRWA. 
 
We have the expertise, experience and resources. 
 
We demonstrated tangible impact during the ceasefire, when obstacles were lifted. 
 
Delaying the decision to properly respond to the deepening hunger will further push down people in Gaza to an endless bottom and deepen dehumanization.” 
 
 — UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini   https://www.unrwa.org/

 

UNWRA WORKS
UNRWA

“We’re looking at boxes of food here… some of it expiring in July,” UNRWA
@UN_JWFOWLER tells  @NPR at the UNRWA warehouse in Amman. Food and other essential goods remain stuck just a three-hour drive from #Gaza. These are growing, but life-saving aid remains blocked, prevented from reaching those who need it most.