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Monsieur René Cassin from the grave…

26 Oct, 2023 | Latest

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Caroline Cassin from René Cassin’s family imagines what he might say today.

“Since the age of 6, I have had my eyes focused on the Fatherland and justice in this world.

At 26 years old, on August 1, 1914, I threw myself into the Great War.

At 27, I received a machine gun fire at War; “I think I’m done”.

At 33 years old, I perceived the nature of the Nazi regime and understood the powerlessness of the League of Nations.

At 40, I boarded the Ettrick cruise liner with Raymon Aron and joined General de Gaulle in London.

At 80, I received the Nobel Peace Prize for having written the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and I told them this:

“Today, where there is no respect for human rights and freedom, there is no peace either. Every day, young people fall on the battlefields. Every day, prisoners are taken to prison and torture chambers. They fight and suffer for the ideals of the Declaration of Human Rights. Peace, everyone must seize it every day”.

 

Today, I rise from my grave to tell you this:

No, my family is not ok when babies are killed and burned in their mother’s arms while their fathers protect them with their bodies.

No, my family is not ok when 260 20-year-olds are in plastic bags while dancing in the open to celebrate a peace festival.

No, my family is not ok when entire families have their heads cut off one by one.

No, my family is not ok when terrorists seize causes to justify their crimes.

No, my family is not ok when international and human rights organisations remain silent.

No, my family is not doing well when we deny a country victim of terrorism the right to defend itself.

Who are we to deny the right to anything?

Who are we when we look at what will constitute a crime against humanity tomorrow?

Who are we when our children will ask us, “What did you do then”?

 

So, what did you do with the inheritance I left you?

Peace, everyone must seize it every day.

 

My family is not ok because my family is “le genre humain”.

René Cassin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Caroline Cassin

Caroline Cassin

Elected Member of the HRLA UK

Today, 10th December, is International Human Rights Day – the 76th anniversary of the signing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. 

 

 

The Declaration was a reaction to the horrors of the Holocaust. So, for Jews, today has a particuar significance. 

Although rooted in response to atrocity, the Declaration was forward-looking and optimistic. It spoke for the majority of people who knew a better world was possible. The fact that it’s co-author , the French-Jewish lawyer Monsieur Rene Cassin, could draft such a hopeful document so soon after 26 members of his family were murdered by the Nazis is a testament to his humanity and the power of human rights in general. 

Today, as the organisation that works in Cassin’s name, we are determined to ensure his Declaration’s vision of human rights for all is fully realised. Central to that work is a focus on so called ‘socio-economic rights’ – rights to everyday essentials like food, housing and health. This vision was best articulated in Article 25 of the Declaration: 

‘Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control’.

Bolstering these rights would ensure everybody has access to the foundations on which to build a dignified, prosperous and meaningful life. They have been neglected for too long.

 

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