EDITORIAL: Dignity as a human right

“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services...” So reads the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Article 25. Namibia has affirmed her allegiance to this declaration, meaning the country commits to securing basic dignity for its people, based on services listed above and many others related thereto. But, as is customary, podium rhetoric was again on display on Human Rights Day. President Hage Geingob led the choir, saying among many things that progress has been made in gender equality, and highlighting female representation in parliament and leadership positions as testimony of that success.

But before we go to material things such as which gender fills what salaried job, how successfully have we dealt with basic individual rights? Can we argue, for example, that the zebra-styled parliamentary representation is a more pressing right than providing food to people camping at the Opuwo dumpsite, waiting for garbage trucks? True, the two sets of rights are not mutually exclusive, but which right between the two carries more human dignity? Surely, someone who sleeps under a bridge on an empty stomach couldn’t care less whether they are represented by a man or woman in parliament. Their priority is to live, an inalienable right for all.