HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE EVERYDAY SPACES WE LIVE IN: WORKPLACES, SCHOOLS, HOMES, AND SOCIETY

HUMAN RIGHTS BELONG TO EVERY PERSON, IN EVERY PLACE — FROM THE CLEANER TO THE CEO, FROM THE CHILD IN A CLASSROOM TO THE PRESIDENT IN A PALACE.

- By Oneli Nonis

"The measure of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable." — Mahatma Gandhi

Human rights are not abstract principles locked inside international conventions — they live and breathe in the everyday spaces we occupy. They exist in the tone we use when we speak to another human being, in the respect we show the sanitation worker sweeping the pavement at dawn, and in the quiet dignity we extend to a child struggling through school. On this Human Rights Day, the promise of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) feels more urgent than ever:

“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” These words remind us that titles are temporary, positions are fleeting, power shifts, and privilege can vanish — but dignity is inherent. No one is more, no one is less.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau famously wrote that “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.” While he spoke of political constraints, today his words echo in social hierarchies, class divides, gender inequalities, and systems that decide whose voice matters and whose does not. A school prefect may speak with authority, but a janitor deserves the same respect. A manager may guide an office, but a security guard has equal human value. A President may lead a country, but cannot claim greater dignity than the farmer who feeds it. The essence of human rights is equality — the recognition that every person, regardless of job, gender, birthplace, identity, or economic status, carries the same intrinsic worth.