Turning hope into action

Our Chief Officer Sara Redmond reflects on hope, action and why human rights must remain at the heart of how we shape the future.

To me, the festive season is like Marmite; I either love it or I hate it – it really depends on the year. This year, thankfully, I have been getting into the Christmas spirit, and my kids have really been helping me get back in touch with the magic. For them it’s a time to celebrate, share presents, and wonder if they are going to see Santa this year; and their festive spirit is contagious.

The holiday season is one filled with hope, a season in which we ask ourselves ‘What do we want from the year ahead?’. Which is why there is no better time than now to celebrate International Human Rights Day this month, reminding us that hope must be grounded in dignity and respect. 10 December is the annual celebration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and this year’s theme is particularly hopeful; to reaffirm that human rights are positive, essential, and attainable.

The ALLIANCE has long been led by human rights principles, having recognised them as everyday essentials to realising wellbeing and dignity in full.

As we head into our 20th year, I have been thinking back over the journey of the ALLIANCE, and how we have incorporated human rights. There have been times when the idea of embedding rights felt less urgent – a bit pie in the sky, even a bit out of reach. I remember sitting in past ALLIANCE conferences hearing people say how we need to make rights real for people, and how it is not enough to talk about them in theory, instead people need to know what they mean in practice.

Understanding human rights in action feels more important than ever, with the rise of populist politics, growing far-right hate, polarising tech media platforms and decreasing public trust in many of our democratic institutions; and that is why celebrating Human Rights Day is crucial too.

Originally written in 1948 from a shared understanding that humanity needed universally set standards that countries could be held accountable against, we are seeing worrying indications, and even examples, that these human rights are not being upheld by state actors.

We are in a new era; one in which it is necessary to remind people how and why these universal standards provide us with a blueprint for humanity. Human rights shape our daily life, they are essential and show up every day, even if we may not notice. They can provide an answer to the concerns people have. It is vital to remember that human rights are something that can be achieved; even when it sometimes feels like we are in darker days.

I’ve written before about the importance of hope. What matters even more is our willingness to turn that hope into action. If we are to prevent deepening alienation in our societies, and avoid the erosion of the institutions meant to serve us, we must channel hope into collective effort. We must recognise the vital role human rights defenders play in challenging it – our sector’s role. We work to promote and protect people’s rights, insist on accountability, and ensure that everyone has a voice in shaping the change ahead. These issues sit at the heart of our annual conference in March. Ultimately, the message is the same whether inside a conference room or out in our communities – human rights only matter if we act to uphold them.

This article first appeared in TFN’s December edition.

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