Blog action day: Communication human rights

Today is blog action day, which is an opportunity for bloggers the world over to contribute to an ongoing discussion of human rights. I want to highlight that there are important communication rights that have been embedded in international rights statements. The UN Declaration on Human Rights, for instance, includes the following:

Article 19. 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. Article 27. (1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits. (2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

And the World Association for Christian Communication has a great free handout on communication rights.

How often do we recognize and support these rights? Digital tools give us so much more opportunity to share widely and have so much potential — let’s use them!