Von: Gerald Leitner <Gerald.Leitner@xxxxxxxx>
Datum: 10. Dezember 2017 um 10:41:42 MEZ
An: "ifla-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <ifla-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Betreff: [IFLA-L] 70th anniversary year of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights
Dear all,
Today marks the beginning of the 70th anniversary year of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. A response to the Second World War, a low point
in human history, it sets a course for all governments, all institutions, and
all peoples. As we approach 70 years since its signing, we have not yet
reached the destination it sets out. We have to work for it!
Libraries can not only draw strength from the Declaration, but through their
work, contribute to achieving its goals.
Without the right to privacy, to free thought and association, libraries are
unable to do their jobs. Perhaps most significantly, Article 19 of the
Declaration, which highlights the freedom ‘to seek receive and impart
information and ideas though any media and regardless of frontiers’ – is at
the heart of IFLA’s core values. It is also on the wall in our offices in The
Hague.
Libraries in turn play a key role in making a reality of the right to
education, to participation in cultural, artistic and scientific life, and to
engagement in public life. On an even more basic level, by guaranteeing
meaningful access to information to all, without discrimination, they support
equality, health, employment and education.
This is not to say that applying and promoting rights is easy. So many of our
members work in situations where their own rights, as well as the rights of
their communities, are not guaranteed. IFLA will continue to support our
colleagues around the world through our words, our friendship, and as far as
possible our presence.
Moreover, rights may not sit easily together. Privacy and access to
information can come into conflict, as in the case of the right to be
forgotten. The balance between the rights of the individual and those of
others in the community. We need a means of discussing, openly and
profoundly, how to find the best possible situation for all.
IFLA is lucky to have its Advisory Committee on Freedom of Access to
Information and Freedom of Expression. This is celebrating its own
anniversary – 20 years of providing inspiration and guidance to the library
field. I look forward to working over the coming year to build understanding
of how human rights play out in libraries, and what we in turn can do to
speed their implementation.
As the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein has
underlined, “we must organize and mobilize in defence of human decency, in
defence of a better common future… We must take a robust and determined
stand: by resolutely supporting the human rights of others, we also stand up
for our own rights and those of generations to come”.
Kind regards,
Gerald Leitner
………………………………………………
Gerald Leitner
Secretary General
International Federation of Library Associations
and Institutions
PO Box 95312
2509 CH The Hague, Netherlands
Tel: +31-70-3140884
Fax: +31-70-3834827
www.ifla.org