(Simona Mengascini, SIR correspondent in Cyprus) – "Right to protection," but also "right to a sustainable environment," "rights for women," "right to health," "right to family reunification," "right to total well-being:" the Declaration of Human Rights turns 60 and yet new rights are looking forward to being added. This is what emerged during the round table on this subject at the forum of Cyprus. One of the most controversial issues has been to determine whether these rights are really ‘universal’. According to Mikko Heikka, Lutheran Bishop of Eespo in Finland, "the term has undoubtedly occidental origins," but "includes the universal idea of a community in which some behaviours are accepted while others are not." "Certainly," he added, "there is no point in signing a declaration if the rights it includes are not protected." William Chapman, from the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, said that "religions are the ‘mother’ of human rights," recalling the "right to believe, the right to profess one’s faith publicly, the right to express oneself." "Even in Cyprus, a country partially occupied by Turkey," said the President of the Parliament Marios Garoyan, "human rights are not respected. This is true for refugees and missing people, but also for the destruction of the religious and cultural heritage that has been build over centuries." ” ” ” “
