The Seventh-day Adventist Church called on December 10 for a greater emphasis on fundamental human rights, both in society and in the church.

Adventist Church's representative to the United Nations, Dr Jonathan Gallagher, was speaking at the launch on Human Rights Day in New York of a year-long UN program designed to re-affirm rights and freedoms ahead of the 60th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights.

"Sadly since 1948 and the implementation of the Universal Declaration we have seen much good talk and theory, but we still have many problems in the area of human rights. All around the world people are suffering because their basic rights are being trampled on. In no area is this clearer than in religious freedom, with persecution and intolerance still high on the agenda of violations that need to be halted."

Gallagher pointed to ongoing denials of freedom of religion in such countries as Saudi Arabia, North Korea, the Maldives, Eritrea, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Turkmenistan and other central Asian countries.

"While we celebrate what has been achieved over the past sixty years since the Declaration, we can't be blind to the increasing challenges to the right to freedom of belief and worship," Gallagher said. "As a church we remain totally committed to freedom of conscience, and call on everyone to work together to make sure human rights are valued in practice, and not just in theory."

Speaking at a pre-launch meeting on December 6, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Deputy Permanent Representative of France to the UN, whose mission is co-sponsoring the program, said that while "the Declaration was not the final point, and everything was not yet achieved," the anniversary was "an opportunity to reaffirm the universality of human rights."

At the same meeting Craig Mokhiber, deputy director, U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), commented that the proposed program was "not so much a celebration but more a need for recommitment." He added that there was "an ongoing assault on human rights," and that if this was not tackled, then "the 60th anniversary will be more like a funeral for human rights."