[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 188 (Thursday, December 8, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8457-S8458]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY

  Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I rise today to mark International Human 
Rights Day, a day which celebrates the adoption of the Universal 
Declaration on Human Rights by the UN General Assembly on December 10, 
1948.
  In the immediate after math of World War II, and reacting with 
revulsion to the horrors of that global war and the Holocaust, the 
community of nations organized itself with the goal of protecting 
international peace and security. Although the United Nations founding 
Charter recognized the protection of human rights as one of the

[[Page S8458]]

UN's most basic purposes, it was quickly recognized that it would be 
necessary to further elaborate these fundamental freedoms in order to 
ensure their protection. The resulting document--the Universal 
Declaration of Human Rights--has since served as the foundation upon 
which all other human rights work at the international level has stood. 
It remains to this day an enduring guide for human rights advocates 
around the globe.
  This has been an exciting and dramatic year that will be remembered 
for the triumphs of the Arab Spring. The fall of so many dictators who 
have been responsible for the deaths, torture, and other atrocities 
meted out against so many has opened up the exhilarating prospect of 
real reform and meaningful human rights improvements. But the final 
chapter of the Arab Spring has not yet been written, and nothing can be 
taken for granted.
  Progress in this field is not necessarily linear. As Ronald Reagan 
said in his inaugural address, ``Freedom is a fragile thing and is 
never more than one generation away from extinction.''
  I believe it is especially critical, at this historic moment, for the 
United States to remain vigilant in the protection and promotion of 
human rights--abroad and at home.
  Overseas, the United States must continue to use our voice to speak 
on behalf of those silenced by brutal regimes. We must continue to lift 
up those who cannot stand on their own. And while we must inevitably 
pursue a multifaceted foreign-policy that advances American goals in a 
broad range of areas including hard security and the economy, we must 
never treat human rights as something expendable.
  I take particular note of the countries that stand shoulder to 
shoulder with us in that effort. I welcome Polish Foreign Minister 
Radek Sikorski's call for a ``European endowment for democracy,'' 
similar to the National Endowment for Democracy which the United States 
has supported since 1983. I commend Poland for the leadership it has 
shown on human rights issues during its presidency of the European 
Union.
  In all of these efforts, the role of civil society remains critical. 
On the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of 
Human Rights, the United Nations adopted a declaration on the rights of 
human rights defenders. They are the first line of defense and they 
often pay the highest price.
  There are, unfortunately, too many cases of human rights defenders 
who are imprisoned, persecuted or worse, for me to raise them all here. 
But I would like to mention one in particular that maybe emblematic of 
many others: the case of Evgenii Zhovtis, Kazakhstan's most well-known 
human rights activist.
  Zhovtis is the Director of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for 
Human Rights and Rule of Law and even a member of the OSCE Office for 
Democratic Institutions and Human Rights' panel of experts on freedom 
of assembly. But he was involved in a tragic car accident in which a 
pedestrian was killed and, after a trial widely condemned for lacking 
due process, he was sentenced in 2009 to 4 years in prison.
  A year ago, at the OSCE Summit in Astana, civil society activists 
called for Zhovtis' release. As one NGO participant remarked:

       Evgenii is the human rights Everyman. If this can happen to 
     him, it can happen to anyone.

  A year later, Evgenii Zhovtis remains in a Siberian penal colony, 
even as Kazakhstan prepares to host an OSCE election observation 
mission. In the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, I 
once again urge President Nazarbayev to review his case and to release 
him.
  Thank you.

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