When women and men alike, learn to trust and respect the other, re-imagining a society that is guided by human rights as a way of life, democracy will flourish in North Africa and the Middle East. Human rights grew out of their historic memory, yearning to belong in community in dignity with others.

If everyone will know, own and internalize human rights as relevant to their daily struggles, the inclusivity and universality of human rights will have people participate proactively and positively in the decisions that determine their lives. They will join in breaking through the vicious cycle of humiliation and create a secure, nurturing place, to live in.

It is the responsibility of each one of us to recognize and capture these magical yet very painful moments and do all we can to inform people the meaning of human rights in their lives. (Imposed ignorance is a human rights violation.) And when they learn, they would reinvent their lives, adding a vibrant link to the chain of humanity's expectations for life free from fear and want, moving charity to dignity.

Many of us gaining this insight acknowledge spontaneously that our social responsibility takes control of the future to become agent of change. If the community knew human rights directly and without bias, the strife taking place now would have been moot. Sadly, most people do not know about the many important moral, political and legal benefits human rights hand them over to claim as inalienable ones. It is not socialism, it is not capitalism it is human rights. It is a framework that endows us with a vibrant political and moral way to conduct our lives with the protection of human rights laws. It makes so much sense.

And finally, as people move from slavery to freedom, it is not often that the interconnectedness and interrelatedness of human rights concerns become part of a genuine systemic analysis. Recognition of differences between symptoms and causes stands to avail us with the necessary compass for real human, economic and societal transformation.

Especially now, in view of the current uprising, an ongoing dialogue about human rights must be introduced step by step throughout all sectors of society. We, the human rights’ activists and trainers, must forge such a dialogue with caution. In 20 years of working around the world, the People's Movement for Human Rights Learning has witnessed how the vision and mission of human rights answers the dreams of humanity. Human rights are banks of the river in which life can flow freely.

The Universal Declaration of human rights stands to serve humanity, giving credibility to people’s longing for values that protect their dignity. The human rights framework guides humanity into a journey of hope that informs economic and social justice and the closing of the widening gap of dignity around the world.

This is not about utopia. This is about hope, a new understanding of human rights that can have people change the world. We have no other option but human rights as a way of life that all must know and own and transform their lives accordingly.

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