Why Should We Even Have to Say This?, Daily Brief March 4, 2025

In human rights work, we say what needs to be said. Sometimes, we say it for those who are unable to speak out at the moment – or speak at all anymore.

Yet, sometimes, it seems as if we shouldn’t have to say what we say. What we’re saying seems so fundamental, so obvious, that no one should have to say it at all.

For example…

We shouldn’t have to say to Australia, “don’t jail ten-year-old kids.” That’s should be clear enough to anyone.

We shouldn’t have to say to the European Union, “don’t send refugees to places where you know they’ll be tortured.” Again, obvious stuff.

We shouldn’t have to say to Israel, “don’t starve children.”

We shouldn’t have to say to the US, the UK, Germany, and Iran: “don’t keep sending weapons to warring parties committing atrocities.”

We shouldn’t have to say to Rwanda, “stop torturing people.”

We shouldn’t have to say to the Taliban in Afghanistan, “your invented ‘tradition’ is no excuse for horrific abuses.”

We shouldn’t have to remind global leaders on trade junkets that China is committing crimes against humanity in Xinjiang.

We shouldn’t have to explain to anyone that we all need a habitable planet to live on.

We shouldn’t have to say to Elon Musk, “don’t give Nazi-style salutes.”

We shouldn’t have to say to the Trump administration, “don’t negotiate away justice for victims of Russia’s atrocity-ridden invasion of Ukraine.”

All these things should be so obvious that no one should need to say them. Governments and government leaders should know their legal and moral obligations without being reminded.

Yet, here we are.

We face governments that often wilfully ignore their obligations to serve the powerful at the expense of the powerless. So, human rights groups and activists often have to say what is simply obvious.

It’s important that we do so. Because if no one pointed out the obvious, it would gradually become less obvious. Human rights abuses would seem not worth mentioning, become “normal.”

Yet, however common they are, human rights abuses should never be considered normal. We all need to remind those in power of the standards humanity expects every day. We need to say what has to be said – even when no one should have to say it.