Wednesday, June 10, 2015

DR. REUBEN EGOLF SPEAKS AT THE iCHANGE NATIONS™ - HUMAN RIGHTS GLOBAL CONGRESS™


Dr. Reuben Egolf, Vice President of Human Rights Global Congress
The launching of the iChange Nations and the Human Rights Global Congress™ on April 18th in Grand Rapids, Michigan was an experience beyond expectations. The attendance went beyond seating capacity to standing room only. The atmosphere was filled with camaraderie with a common goal of protecting the image of God. Diversity in ethnicities and faiths came to the unifying force of the Golden Rule and demonstrated a culture that’s possible all over the world. 

I was asked to speak on Article 19 of the Human Rights Declaration set forth by the United Nations. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

In a nation like America the subject of human rights seems to be distant from everyday life. We as citizens in the United States do not fear our government will imprison, persecute, and terminate our lives due to our expressing an opinion, or for our religious faith. Therefore, the subject of human rights appears abstract and foreign, and not much attention is given to it. The truth of the matter is that the violation of human rights affects us all and much more directly that we think.

Where human rights are violated it becomes the greatest abortion mill for human potential that there is. For example, sex trafficking enslaves a woman and aborts her potential and contribution to society and we all suffer as a consequence of her unreleased potential. How many vaccines, cures, and how many other medical and scientific breakthroughs to help human suffering have been terminated by violating human rights? What about a man who merely expresses his opinion concerning a government or about his faith who is then imprisoned, beaten, and in many cases killed.  According to Amnesty International more than 1/3 of governments, 62 out of 160, locked up prisoners of conscience – people who were simply exercising their rights and freedoms. Another staggering statistic is that there are twenty seven million people currently enslaved around the world. Can you imagine what is locked up inside a community of multiplied millions? There are many nations of the world who do not have twenty seven million people as a population, so in essence this is an entire nation of people who’s potential is being withheld from the world.

If I am living with a terminal disease in Canada, and the knowledge for the cure was inside of a person who was killed twenty years ago in a country where his or her religious beliefs were not tolerated, then my future has been affected by it. That violation of their human rights has now directly affected and impacted my life.

Article written by: Dr. Rueben Egolf – Vice President – Human Rights Global Congress

Article edited with permission

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