The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on Dec. 10, 1948.

The Friday Harbor Group 607 of Amnesty International will celebrate the 60th anniversary of this historic document on Dec. 10, 2008. United States Army Captain James Yee will be the honored speaker. Captain Yee, a Muslim Chaplin at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. and the recipient of awards for his service was arrested and charged with treason and espionage in September 2003.  Chaplain Yee subsequently was exonerated, all charges were dropped and, without apology, Chaplain Yee was honorably discharged from the United States Army in January 2005.

In rededication and in preparation for the Dec. 10 celebration, the local Amnesty International Group, in conjunction with the Friends of the San Juan Island Library, invites your participation in the three monthly panel discussions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to be presented at the San Juan Island Library. All of the events are free. Copies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) are available without cost at the San Juan Island Library.

The first panel discussion on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. is entitled, “Life, Liberty, and Personal Security”, and will discuss Articles 1 to 11 of the UDHR. The panel members will be William Cumming, San Juan County Sheriff; James McNairy, Friday Harbor High School teacher of American Political System, World Government, and Current Events;; Louisa Keys. member of the Amnesty International Group Steering Committee; Charles Silverman, Assistant County Prosecutor; and Richard Walker, Editor of the Journal of the San Juan Islands.

The subsequent two panel discussions will be as follows: Sunday Oct. 12, “Rights in Civil Society and Polity,” devoted to Articles 12 to 21, and Sunday Nov. 9, “Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights”, devoted to Articles 22 to 30.

As stated by Mark Rasmussen and Steve Kirk of the Friday Harbor Group 607 of Amnesty International, the UDHR is the primary international articulation of the fundamental and inalienable rights of all members of the human family. It represents the first comprehensive agreement among nations as to the specific rights and freedoms of all human beings. The UDRH has become a cornerstone of customary international law, binding all governments to its principles.

Eleanor Roosevelt, the Chairperson of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, spoke as follows to the United Nations General Assembly in her presentation of the document for approval: “We stand today at the threshold of a great event both in the life of the United Nations and in the life of mankind. This declaration may well become the international Magna Carta for all men everywhere. We hope its proclamation by the General Assembly will be an event comparable to the proclamation in 1789 [of the French Declaration of the Rights of Man], the adoption of the Bill of Rights by the people of the U.S., and the adoption of comparable declarations at different times in other countries.”