I don’t think even one of the 30 articles made me think “mission accomplished”. For example, let’s pick one at random, (and I promise that it is at random), number 14: as I say, a good laugh. Article 14: “Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.” Without getting into the debate of whether asylum should be restricted to those suffering persecution (which isn’t the topic of this post) the UNHCR recognises that the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Pakistan, Eritrea, Somalia and so on (please excuse the so on) in 2015 have thrown up a historic figure of 55 million refugees. This includes those fleeing in their own country and those crossing over into neighbouring countries. The people who calculate these things have calculated that about 25 out of the 55 are asylum seekers. The host countries divide up the refugees as if they were carbon emissions. In this instance, Europe has decided to take 160,000 and has asked Spain to suck it up and take in 15,000, and they’ll send them the cash for it later. So in Spain we’ve already welcomed 12 people. Out of 55 million, 12. Well actually, 15 because there was a football team that signed 3 Syrians. See what a good laugh reading article 14 can be?

But the article that we at Quepo long ago stopped finding funny is number 25 (25!). Article 25: “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”. Today, whilst we hold activities, parties, workshops, talks and crochet classes on Human Rights, 25,000 people, according to the most optimistic groups, will die of hunger. Pessimists say the figure is closer to 80,000 whilst the realists say that nobody counts. It is not the case that it’s a theoretical calculation, or a rough guess, or an impact assessment: it’s the wretched reality: 25,000 are going to die of hunger today. Indeed, they already will have by now. So, at Quepo we don’t really feel there’s much to celebrate today. We do feel up for fighting to make the world aware that these people have died for a reason. They’ve died due to reasons that are unknown, invisible even, to us. Because who would believe, these days, that they only die because of droughts, wars and corruption? We know we are just as ignorant of the causes that infringe the other 29 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But if you allow us (just for today) our one-upmanship, we find it especially offensive that in today’s rich and prosperous world thousands of people die everyday because they don’t have enough food to live. It is absolutely unacceptable. We have made a start by not accepting it. That’s why, although none of the infringed articles are funny, we choose to weep for this one. You choose your cause.

Photo by Fernando Henrique