Written by Henry McGhie, Curating Tomorrow, henrymcghie@curatingtomorrow.co.uk.

Every year, 10^th December is commemorated as International Human Rights Day, the date when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the members of the United Nations. This year is particularly momentous, as it is the 75^th anniversary of the Declaration’s adoption. What has this got to do with museums? The original Declaration includes a number of commitments (set out in 30 Articles) that are obviously related to the work of museums: the right to education, the right to information and freedom of expression, the right to take part in public affairs, among others. Museums often focus on one (article 27) that gets summarized as being ‘the right to participate in cultural life’, but that isn’t it’s full or proper title or scope: more correctly, it is that “Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.” Note especially the part about sharing in scientific advancement and its benefits: we will come back to this.

Now, the Universal Declaration is not perfect, it is 75 years old after all, and it reflected a world rather different than our world today. Hundreds of millions of people were still under colonial rule. The environment didn’t feature in the Declaration, as human impacts on the environment were not as massive, and not as obvious. Nevertheless, the Declaration has been supplemented by many additional agreements, many of which have a legal standing. However, the necessity of a decent quality environment has been recognized for decades. Indeed, it has been argued that most or possibly all of the 30 rights in the original Universal Declaration rely on a decent quality environment. Sustainable development really got going in the early 1970s, with the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment, that recognized that people have a right to a decent quality environment. Fast forward 50 years, to 2022, and that right was finally formally recognized by the United Nations. More recently, the inherent rights of nature have been the subject of court cases and in some cases natural features have been granted rights, which helps protect them and to take polluters to court for environmental damage. 

People – all people, everywhere – have a number of rights related particularly to the work of natural history museums and collections, but hardly anyone even knows what rights they have. The UK is a signatory of the Aarhus Convention, which commits to ensuring people have access to environmental information, to take part in environmental decision-making, and to seek environmental justice. The right to share in scientific advancement and its benefits is recognized as meaning that people have the right both to benefit from science and technology, and the right to take part in scientific activity. This relies on having available opportunities, and museums are recognized as one such place. 

However, human rights relating to the environment are under threat: climate impacts facing current and future generations, governments’ inadequate action to stem climate change, biodiversity loss or pollution, disinformation that seeks to delay or prevent positive transformation. Inequality within and between countries goes largely unaddressed or entirely unnoticed, including in museums. This is not good enough, nor is it sufficient to secure a better future. In a world with many challenges, recognizing that human rights on the one hand, and protecting and restoring [the rest of] nature on the other, are the twin foundations, pillars and goals of sustainable development.

Human rights are, or they could be, a fundamental aspect of museum work, but for unclear reasons, the sector has been slow to realise this or to make much use of them. Human rights give us a set of benchmarks for all people, not as an aspirational dream, but as a concrete social floor, of the standards that all people should expect to receive in society. In order to attain them, they need governments and institutions – including museums – to understand their responsibilities and obligations. Human rights agreements have been made for decades, and progress towards them has often been inadequate. The surest way to deny someone their rights is for them not to be known about in the first place. Embracing human rights more fully would help empower more people to experience and enjoy their rights, help public institutions to deliver better services for more people (and on a transparent basis), and achieve positive outcomes in the wider world. 

When the Universal Declaration was drafted, it committed that ‘every organ of society’ would ‘keep its contents constantly in mind’, to collaborate for a better future. Looking over the last 75 years, we can see that many institutions – including museums – didn’t do what they could have. Let’s make more use of museums for the next 75 years of human rights, for a world of peace, dignity and equality for all on a healthy planet.

More information:

McGhie, HA (2020). Museums and Human Rights: human rights as a basis for public service. Curating Tomorrow. https://curatingtomorrow236646048.files.wordpress.com/2022/03/museums-and-human-rights2-2020.pdf 

McGhie HA (2023). Museums for Better Futures: taking action for sustainable development. Churchill Fellowship Report. Curating Tomorrow https://media.churchillfellowship.org/documents/McGhie_H_Report_2020_Final_UPDATED_NOV_2023.pdf