This was originally published in the FNS website, here:
http://www.fnf.org.ph/seminars/reports/a-humanized-world.htm
Coming home was not a difficult thing to do after having experienced a two-week seminar on human rights and liberalism in Gummersbach.
Not only was I able to amplify my knowledge on human rights, but I also formed meaningful bonds with human rights advocates from all over the globe. It felt good to know that, difficult as it is, this was not a struggle we were fighting alone.
Human rights are put into their proper context when all artificial differences are set aside. Race, religion, creed, nationality, gender, age, profession – all these social constructs are rendered meaningless when we talk about human rights. In theory, I understood this. But it took a 6,000-mile trip to Germany for me to appreciate it in its truest sense.
In the seminar, I learned that my country was not unique in its problems. The co-participants and the facilitators I met shared their experiences boundlessly. They continue to suffer as we suffer, be it in similar or totally different ways. With these shared accounts, I discovered that the Philippines does not boast of the worst conditions possible, but at the same time, it was disheartening to know that we still have a very long way to go.
We have always been one of the first and most eager to enter into international agreements protecting human rights. But disgracefully, we are one of the last ones to properly implement them and make them real. Our domestic laws are second to none, but the proper enforcement of these laws is dismally missing. These are problems that have been present ever since the creation of our republic but we have little to show as evidence of our commitment to change. One thing is undeniable: we have failed. And in accepting failure, we have to recognize that we might have to find solutions elsewhere. This is the purpose of international dialogue.
In the International Academy of Leadership, we were asked to return to the basics of human rights theory and transform these theories into solutions. In the past, reading about the problems of other countries like Bosnia, Afghanistan or Israel always seemed too academic for me. They were abstractions that offered no empirical help in understanding the problems and coming up with an effective solution. Gummersbach changed all that. By giving me a chance take part in this dialogue, I was able to give human faces to all these different countries and remove them from the abstract realm forever. Their problems became real to me and the solutions they offered became more feasible. By understanding the different histories of European, Asian and Latin American countries, the underlying interconnections became apparent, and it made me understand how the Philippines fit in the vast fabric of the world. I was part of the human community, and the world became my home.
One important thing I remembered about the seminar room where we had our sessions is that it had this large map of the world displayed on the far wall. Before the seminar, I looked at the map. It was the same as any other map I had seen before. It was just a geographic representation of the different territories of the world. But after all the stories shared, jokes exchanged and friendships formed, I never looked at the world the same way again. Costa Rica was no longer some obscure country in Latin America but it was home to a friend who I sang with in a Karaoke bar in Magdeburg. Malaysia was no longer just a wealthy neighboring Southeast Asian country, but it is where a very funny and poetic Chinese lawyer lives with his wife and child. Jordan ceased to be just another Middle Eastern country and, in my consciousness, has become the birthplace of a brilliant political scientist who has lived in London, New York and France, and hates football. These once abstract places, that I might never even have a chance to visit in this lifetime, are homes to people who I have come to know as friends. All these countries have become real because they have been given human faces.
Today when I read the newspaper, I see, understand and empathize more because it has become clear that in all these talks of war, disaster and human rights abuses, every victim is somebody’s parent, child or friend. Understanding this makes me more aware that I am part of a larger human family. Each time a single member of that family suffers, the entire family is harmed. This is how I understand human rights.
Like I said in the beginning, coming home was not difficult to do. Because of this new connectedness I felt with the whole of humanity, the world had become home. The 6000 miles no longer mattered.
