Cárdenas D. Rev. Nutr. Clin. Metab. 2021;4(4):3.
December 10th: International Human Rights Day
10 de diciembre: día internacional de los derechos humanos
10 de dezembro: dia internacional dos direitos humanos
Diana Cárdenas*
https://doi.org/10.35454/rncm.v4n4.356
*Correspondence: Diana Cárdenas.
dianacardenasbraz@gmail.com
“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home, so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world (...). Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerned citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.” Eleonor Roosevelt.
December 10th is observed every year as the day in which, in 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). It is a milestone document, which proclaims the inalienable rights that everyone is entitled to as a human being, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. It proclaims its principles as a “common ideal for all peoples and nations”. It does not promote unreachable utopian ideals; on the contrary, it is thanks to this document and the pledge of States to its tenets that the lives of millions of people have improved and the foundations for a more just world have been laid. However, there are still many areas in which the rights and values promoted in this document are not respected. For this reason, this day is an opportunity us all to renew mankind’s spirit of struggle for rights and dignity. It is also the opportunity to take action against challenges that still manifest themselves in the form of poverty, inequality, violence, exclusion and discrimination.
Aware of the fact that human rights must be at the base of all progress and that science is a common good, the Journal seeks to foster the development of clinical nutrition as a science and to promote the human right to nutritional care. Science is a cultural right that must work for the benefit of society. It must be understood beyond the simple right of access to material things like, for example, access to a new medication, because it predominantly implies also access to knowledge and the right that all people have to partake of science. However, a growing disregard for knowledge has seeped in over the past few years, with the dissemination of fake news and practices based on myths and beliefs. Against this backdrop, the Journal’s mission is to promote respect for knowledge, providing open access to articles that meet high scientific standards.
Clinical nutrition knowledge and applications must be in line with the 13 principles of the Cartagena Declaration and, in particular, of the UDHR. We invite you to renew your pledge to uphold the rights and dignity of ill people and to continue to abide by the universal values promoted by the UDHR in all societies and in all circumstances.
Diana Cárdenas, MD, PhD
Editor, Journal of Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (Colombian Association of Clinical Nutrition)
Professor and Researcher of the Nutrition, Genetics and Metabolism Institute, School of Medicine, Universidad El Bosque. Bogotá, Colombia.