Exercising human rights and the right to live in peace
Conflict often flows from the lack of protection and respect of human rights. At the same time, the exercise of those rights is difficult, if not impossible, without the right to live in peace.
The explosion of armed conflicts in all regions comes at a time when authoritarianism is on the rise, when there is growing corporate concentration and domination, galloping inequality, and extreme polarisation, much of it based on racism, misogyny and bigotry. These extremes are a march away from social justice and help create the conditions for conflicts which largely leave the powerful untouched and expand the gap in wealth and power between them and the rest of society.
Obtaining greater social justice, equality, and development requires a peaceful and orderly society. Working people do not declare or engineer wars, but they fight them and suffer their consequences at work and at home. The workers and other citizens of Ukraine did not decide to be invaded nor did the people of neighbouring Russia. In Myanmar, the people made a free choice to complete their move to democracy, but one man seized power without a popular mandate, but with the power of guns and bombs.
Humanitarian disasters, often related to wars or other forms of violence, also hit workers harder than the privileged. In Gaza, in addition to facing large-scale indiscriminate and brutal killings, millions are hungry or starving, they lack medical care and have no way to escape their misery. If they escape, they may not be accepted in other countries and are often treated as threats. Migrant workers, even if they have documents, often suffer from violence, discrimination and other abuses.
In Sudan, where malnutrition, starvation and disease are permanently denying a future to an entire generation, vast quantities of arms are flowing to the warring parties with much directed al civilians. Over 14,000 people have been killed and 10 million are displaced. As in many other conflicts, gender-based violence is rampant.
The arms industry helping to fuel this and other wars has yielded fat profits for the world’s 15 leading defence contractors, which have so much cash on hand, mostly from public money, that they can buy back shares and pay huge dividends.
Violence is widespread in many countries. It may come from States, criminal gangs who have seized power, or employers, with force and fear, to make the exercise of fundamental workers’ rights impossible. In Peru, Belarus, South Korea, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Panama, an alarming number of unionists had been brutally killed, detained, jailed, or is facing oppression.
Wars and conflicts are devastating the lives and livelihoods of many workers, especially women, and their families. Amid bombings, killings, blockades, and the ruthless suppression of dissent, the right to work, earn a living, and live in safety and dignity are being eroded on a massive scale. When workplaces become battlefields, and basic human rights are denied, workers bear the heaviest burden.
As we face an unprecedented existential crisis, one that transcends all others and strikes at the very core of our humanity, the BWI calls upon workers and their unions, civil society, governments and international organisations, not to succumb to the interests of those who perpetuate cycles of violence and division. Instead, we must rise as a united international community of workers to reaffirm, loudly and unequivocally on this International Human Rights Day, the fundamental human right to live in peace, a right that is essential to preserving dignity, justice, and the survival of our collective humanity.
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