As many celebrate International
Human Rights Day today (December 10th), a 2500-year-old inscribed
stone, the Cyrus Cylinder reminds us that human rights are a complex issue with
which humankind has struggled with throughout history. In 2013, the British
Museum will lend the clay cylinder for a tour of five major United States
museums in the District of Columbia, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, and San
Francisco.
To some, the cylinder represents
the perennial and seemingly inherent desire and longing for human rights and a
truly civilly organized society, a desire reflected in the efforts of Hammurabi,
Cyrus, Ashoka, Septimus Severus/Ulpian, Justinian, Napoleon, the impact of
Confucius' teaching in ancient China, all underlining the yearning for the
protection of human rights through the rule of law throughout the ages and the
perennial difficulty of protecting them.
Indeed, this view is consistent
with that promoted by Iran's Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi during his reign. It is
not without some irony that the Shah would promote the cylinder as an early
human rights charter while at the same time abusing the rule of law to violate
rights to a degree that ignited a successful revolution against his regime. In
other words, the Shah's promotion of the cylinder's contents had more to do
with symbolic political power than human rights substance.
Whether Achaemenid King Cyrus
intended to set forth human rights protections on this clay cylinder is debated
by those interpreting the cuneiform script of a dead language. Regardless, the
cylinder has in modern times stood for one of the earliest legislative
statements illustrating a ruler's acts in upholding the protection of human
rights.
Sadly, in the millennia that have
passed, history offers little evidence of the rule of law protecting
fundamental human rights in what is now modern day Iran and Iraq. Words,
whether written on a clay cylinder or with digital ink, do little to shield
individuals from those who would ignore such words and oppress individuals or
particular groups on behalf of ideological, political, or religious belief, or
for particular financial gain.
Slavery, human trafficking, and
the like pervade the former Persian Empire and many other parts of the globe. Oppression
based on ethnicity or religious belief persists in nations around the globe,
even in the developed world. The
protection of human rights through the rule of law requires constant vigilance
by all people and each nation. Intolerance
is a pervasive inherent desire. The whims
and immoral characters of ever-changing rulers, elites, and their dependant regimes
are the primary source of the perennial and daily threats to adherence to the rule
of law and its related respect for and protection of human rights.
On this International Human
Rights Day, and as the Cyrus Cylinder is exhibited in U.S. museums next year,
we should remember that after 2,500 years, humanity still struggles to protect
fundamental human rights through the rule of law in an apparently uphill
battle. However, the perennial desire
and quest for human rights continues to inspire us to strive for what is best,
that is, what we as humans inherently agree should be. The Cyrus Cylinder should be a symbol for us
today of what remains to be done to establish firmly and to protect human
rights in the 21st Century, and the role that the rule of law should
play in helping to achieve that goal.
Recommended Reading
VIDEO - Cyrus Cylinder: Ancient treasure to help
Iran-US relations, BBC News
(Nov. 27, 2012)
British Museum lends ancient 'bill of rights'
cylinder to US, BBC News
(Nov. 27, 2012)
Cyrus Cylinder coming to Getty Villa in 2013
as part of U.S. tour, LA Times
(Nov. 28, 2012)
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
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Photo of the Cyrus Cylinder by Prioryman
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