Please watch, share, and blog about this amazing, wonderful short animated film.

I found this extraordinarily moving.  I’ve spent much of my career trying to convince governments to respect the rights contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and other documents.  Our own government could do a lot worse than adhering to the principles outlined therein.

When I was in the Clinton Administration, I conceived and got the President to sign an executive order creating the Eleanor Roosevelt Award, which honored Americans who had made outstanding contributions to the cause of human rights.  (For those who don’t know, Eleanor Roosevelt played a central role in the drafting of the UDHR.)  The award was established in December 1998, as part of the Administration’s commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration.   In the three years I helped put the event together, honorees included John Lewis, Fred Cuny, Bette Bao Lord, and Dorothy Thomas, among others.

It probably would not surprise you that the Bush Administration stopped giving it out.  It would be fitting for the next Administration to restart it.  The first awards should go to those who, over the past eight years, have fought so valiantly to try to keep this administration from shredding our rights and defacing the UDHR.

More importantly, we must demand that our government be the leader on human rights — the government as envisioned by Eleanor Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, Jr., Bobby Kennedy, and many others — and not among the world’s worst abusers.

We have that right.

You can find out more about the campaign here and the video here.

Hat tip:  Andrew Sullivan

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