The Sin of Silence: When Human Rights Are Asleep . By: Gouya Roshan

 

The Sin of Silence: When Human Rights Are Asleep 

Being human is not merely having two arms and two legs. Being human means having the ability to feel another person’s pain, even if we do not know them. It means that when we know someone is suffering, we do not remain silent. It means not hiding the truth, even when it is costly.

There are times when we have never met someone in person, yet when they are treated unjustly, we feel heartbroken. This empathy, regardless of nationality, religion, or borders, is a sign that humanity is still alive. If our hearts still respond to the suffering of others, then we are still human, even if the world has turned its back on that humanity.

However, some human rights institutions, which are meant to be guardians of justice, do not respond adequately to the widespread suffering of people. This is not ignorance; it is a choice. A choice about which crises to see and which to ignore. Which victims to highlight and which to marginalize.

For example, when a law is passed in Afghanistan that effectively legalizes violence against women and girls. When children in Yemen die of hunger. When minorities in Myanmar are massacred because of their identity. When the people of The Palestinian people have been massacred for decades. When Jews become victims of antisemitism. “Judaism and Zionism have no connection to one another.” When war and violence in Sudan take human lives. When people across the world are subjected to oppression.

And when there is a deep silence in the face of such suffering, that silence is no longer a temporary mistake. It becomes part of the system. Structural silence is a form of complicity. Those who remain silent in the face of injustice they are aware of unknowingly contribute to its continuation. Silence is an escape from responsibility.

Sometimes warnings are not enough. Because knowledge alone is not what matters. What matters is the will to change. Silence in the face of oppression is a moral choice. A choice that places personal comfort above human dignity.

Major human rights organizations are obligated to speak the truth plainly. If they are committed to justice, they must not engage in political privileges and power games. Reporting is not enough; they must amplify the voices of victims so that no authority can ignore them.

Silence in the face of oppression is not only disempowering, but immoral. Pain deepens when it is seen yet not taken seriously. If human rights are truly universal, they must apply equally to everyone, everywhere — not selectively, not discriminatorily, and not according to the interests of the powerful.