ROLE OF TELEVISION AS PARTNER IN STRUGGLE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS STRESSED BY DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL IN REMARKS TO EMMY AWARDS GALA

24 November 1998

Press Release
DSG/SM/34

ROLE OF TELEVISION AS PARTNER IN STRUGGLE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS STRESSED BY DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL IN REMARKS TO EMMY AWARDS GALA

19981124 Louise Fréchette Notes Life-Span Of Human Rights Declaration Coincides Roughly With That of Television

Following are remarks by Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette to the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences at the International Emmy Awards Gala in New York on 23 November:

It gives me great pleasure to join you here tonight. Your eminent group has long been a very good friend of the United Nations. You are also a partner in the struggle for human rights, and I would like to thank you for the recognition you have bestowed upon the United Nations tonight for its work in this vital area.

Television has brought us some amazing stories over the years: an almost infinite variety of reports and programmes about the human condition.

Tales of triumph and tragedy, of war and peace, of the famous and the infamous. Documentaries that have entertained, educated and at times shocked us. Programmes from around the world that have touched on all the pressing issues on the United Nations agenda.

The struggle for human rights has been a recurring theme of this formidable output. This is, of course, the age-old human quest: for freedom, for equality, for adequate standards of living. Since 1948, however, it has been carried out under the banner of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Over that period, television has brought us indelible images, of rights attained and rights denied. It has taken us to places the rest of us go only rarely, if ever. It has given a voice to the voiceless. It has introduced us to the foreign, reminded us about the forgotten and helped liberate the oppressed.

The life-span of the Declaration coincides roughly with that of television itself. And, if television has become a globally encompassing

medium, it is also true that the Declaration is a global phenomenon. The text has been translated into more than 250 languages. Its tenets have been incorporated into the fabric of national and international law. It has become the yardstick by which we measure our work for a better world.

The motto of this year's fiftieth anniversary commemoration -- "all human rights for all" -- expresses the challenge we face today.

For too many people around the world, the Declaration has yet to take on real meaning. Each year, the 24-hour fax "hot line" maintained by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights receives nearly 200,000 communications reporting violations. That is more than 500 a day, or about one every three minutes. And these are just a small fraction of the violations that occur and demand a response.

Human rights violations happen around the clock. This means the United Nations work is never-ending. And it means that there are many more programmes for you to make, and many more stories for you to break. In that spirit, I look forward to working with you in the years ahead and wish you the best for a memorable evening.

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