The Flawed Concept of Human Dignity!
By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer
Yesterday, on October 21, the UN and its sister agencies observed Global Dignity Day, but what was conspicuously absent from the ceremonies held in various countries, mostly involving children and adolescents, was any meaningful acknowledgment of the millions of children whose dignity, rights and very lives are being violated by wars, occupation, sanctions and the deliberate targeting of civilian populations.
Mere words such as compassion, kindness, respect, forgiveness, etc. cannot properly define human dignity, let alone making this concept practicable in life.
Don’t get us wrong. We do not mean children and adolescents should not be taught these values.
Of course, they should, and along with them the adults and the fully grownups, as well as the middle-aged and the elderly who are nearing the end of their life, but have not learned what dignity is.
Examples of the undignified who because of their violation of human dignity have made the world unsafe – even for kids – galore, galore, and who is better informed in this regard other than the UN.
What we mean to say is that the World Body while promoting concept of dignity amongst the children and youth, should also draw their attention towards the enemies of human dignity, such as the exploiters, the violators, warmongers, and child-killers.
In other words, the teaching of dignity to the youngsters is incomplete, if, along with the prime exemplars of human dignity – of the past and the present – they remain uninformed of the crimes against humanity of the most notorious criminals, especially of our era, such as Donald Trump of the US, and Benjamin Netanyahu of the illegal Zionist entity.
If the Iranians, including the 168 US-slaughtered primary school children of Minab, have practically proven to the world that human dignity is worth fighting for and worth dying for, similar is the story of the 75,000 Palestinians martyred, almost 200,000 injured, and a million others displaced from their homes by the genocidal Netanyahu over the past two years in Gaza.
Will the UN and its sister agencies summon up the courage to teach these basic facts to the children, the youth, and the elderly that human dignity remains a dream unless the undignified enemies of human rights receive their due punishment.
In view of these undeniable facts, dignity is not a cosmetic measure to lecture children on a particular day and then forget the whole concept. It cannot be promoted or guaranteed without presenting to them the exemplary life of the defenders of human dignity and without pointing to them about the crimes against humanity of the evil one, especially those of our era, such as Trump and Netanyahu.