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[InetBib] Fwd: [IFLA-L] 70th anniversary year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights



Liebe Kolleginnen und Kollegen,

nachfolgend eine Nachricht des IFLA Generalsekretärs anläßlich der Allgemeinen 
Erklärung der Menschenrechte.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen 
Oliver Hinte

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






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