Our rights, our future, now! Under the motto, the International Day of Human Rights commemorates the legacy of 76 years. The aim of the day is to promote the construction of a more peaceful, egalitarian and sustainable world. However, while progress is being made, we are faced with violations of rights that claim to be protected.

We would like to recall that this declaration was born on 10 December 1948 in a UN General Assembly, the fruit of the experience of the Second World War. Following the Second World War and the establishment of the United Nations Organization, the international community undertook not to accept more cruelties such as those committed in that conflict. Today, however, barbarism persists, such as the Palestinian genocide and dozens of other wars that remain hidden.

Today, the big multinationals join this celebration by exposing their commitments in favour of corporate social responsibility. In practice, however, the subsidiaries expel the communities of the territories that have belonged to them for a long time and exploit them mercilessly. Proponents of Earth and Nature are frightened, criminalized and persecuted, while promoting an economic model that prioritizes capital accumulation over life.

This dual morality makes people who defend human rights fall victim to systems that they should protect. The emblematic cases of Berta Cáceres, Miller Correa, Bernardo Caal or Lolita Chávez demonstrate that they threaten, criminalise and murder people for defending fundamental rights. Paradoxically, the very actors who defend human rights are their executioners.

Human rights violations are clearly manifested in different parts of the world. For example, in Colombia: illegal groups that exploit gold forcibly recruit minors. Bolibia: coups d'état driven by interests of exploitation of lithium against the democratic rights of the people. In El Salvador: state of emergency that has been violating fundamental rights for two years on the pretext of security. Guatemala: The fishermen of El Estor have been murdered for defending their lives and their lands against nickel exploitation. And in Nicaragua: young and feminist women are persecuted, exiled or imprisoned for fighting male violence and for abortion, free associations and the defense of human rights.

These cases demonstrate that communities acting against economic and political interests are treated as enemies. In this fight we cannot forget what is the most exploited of the exploited: Mother Earth, treated violently as the bodies of women. The land and body of women have been controlled and exploited and reduced to instruments to meet the needs of men and the destructive economic system.

In this dynamic, they criminalize, abandon and, on many occasions, murder those who defend human rights and place collectivity above individuality and the common good above the genocidal logic of capital. Ironically, the UN uses these figures of persecution and death to justify their importance on days like today.

Furthermore, it is said that when the UN declares an international day, as this 10 December, it wants to raise awareness and raise awareness. However, the reality seems that these days reflect issues that are almost abandoned. There is no real commitment to tackling problems such as machista violence, cultural expolio, loss of biodiversity, war or social injustices. If so, binding mechanisms could be in place to transform policies and punish those responsible for crimes against humanity.

Israel is a paradigmatic case of contradiction. In 1991 it ratified important international treaties such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Convention against Torture (CAT). In addition, in 2000 he signed the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), although he has not ratified it, so he is separated from this court by law.

Currently, the ICC has ordered the arrest of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and HAMAS commander Mohammed Deif. However, the consequences are minimal. These orders affect international mobility and international diplomatic relations, although they have no real effect. They also have the help of the United States, which rejects the resolution. “These are the consequences of a genocidal state that has not complied with most treaties defending human rights in the twenty-first century.”

The International Day of Human Rights allows us to reflect, but also to demand concrete action. Rather than a symbol, human rights must become a real commitment to transforming policies and protecting vulnerable communities.

Contradictions, collective struggles await. It is essential to identify and protect those who defend justice, question destructive capitalist logic and defend Mother Earth as the axis of life. Because there is no future without justice, no human rights without action.

Estibaliz Gómez de Segura, NGO Mugarik Gabe