“Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person”.
Except when they don’t.
“Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth [in the Declaration of Human Rights], without distinction of any kind”
Except when they are refugees.
“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”
Born, sure, but these rights only apply when we say they do.
The European Union, it seems, has forgotten its values. The EU itself explicitly states “human rights” and “human dignity” as two of its fundamental pillars. Maybe we just misunderstood what these meant? Maybe the EU considers human rights to only apply to its own citizens? Maybe they apply everywhere except in the Mediterranean sea?
Whatever it is, the same appears to be the case for the “Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union”, which explicitly states, that:
“No one may be removed, expelled or extradited to a State where there is a serious risk that he or she would be subjected to the death penalty, torture or other inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
The European Union is delegitimizing itself. How can it expect its member nations, many of whom today are questioning the value of the Union, to respect its decisions – for example regarding the political situations in Poland and Hungary – if the European Union cannot even uphold its own absolutely fundamental declarations for the dignity of all humans on this planet and while it disregards the Fundamental Declaration of Human Rights?
More fundamentally – how have we reached a point at which national governments and European authorities seem to try anything in their power to keep away those most desperately in need of help – those people who the creators of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights meant when they drafted and passed it – seemingly at any cost, so long as it does not damage political reputation and their chance to be re-elected into office?
If we look back at early 2015, we saw optimism. Europe and its citizens overwhelmingly welcomed those fleeing death and destruction; in part because countries such as Germany felt the moral obligation to, considering their roles in the past, them having received help themselves when they had needed it or because of their involvement in conflicts in the Middle East; but also in large parts simply because it was – is – the right thing to do.
No human being should let another human being die. It is a fundamental principle that even young children understand when asked. It is what makes us human.
How have we gone from this optimism and openness in early 2015 to what we have now? How have we reached a point at which public debate has turned to whether or not to rescue hundreds, thousands of people drowning in the ocean? Why are we detaining people who spend their days saving hundreds of lives?
I alone don’t have the answers to these questions. However, we as a whole, the people of the European Union, do.
This is not an article. It is solely a collection of emotive words which I jotted down with the hope of provoking thought. I am not hoping to tell you what to think, but I am hoping to tell you to think.
Is this really the values we want to live by? Passively watching as thousands of people who have lost everything drown, taking their last breaths while coming to the final realization that the dream which they invested everything into – a dream that is nothing more than that of leading an ordinary life – will be forever out of reach. Out of reach not because of them, but due to the idleness, mixed with a sprinkle of ignorance, of those who happen to have been born in a more favorable situation; those who have all the means to help them, but who chose not to. Us.
