Free speech, democratic participation and Human dignity can only be made reality, if they become a matter of heart for the people. Lifestyle is about demonstrating, public speaking, using social media, signing petitions and public debating. But a Human Rights lifestyle comprises more: It is also about personal choices, behavior patterns that foster one’s own well-being and the community’s welfare simultaneously…

2011 is an extraordinary year in the sense that millions of people all over the world took and are taking to streets and public places, to claim their rights. They have made it clear globally that championing Human Rights is a lifestyle.

Free speech, democratic participation and Human dignity can only be made reality, if they become a matter of heart for the people.

Lifestyle is about demonstrating, public speaking, using social media, signing petitions and public debating. But a Human Rights lifestyle comprises more: It is also about personal choices, behavior patterns that foster one’s own well-being and the community’s welfare simultaneously.

Fighting for and achieving Human Rights in their social, political and economic dimensions, is one thing. The other and surely not less difficult and important thing, is to be able as individual and community to thrive on these rights, use these rights and work with these rights.

While the global campaign for issues like “freedom from want and freedom from fear”, as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mrs. Navanethem Pillay called it, is gaining ever more momentum, billions of human beings all over the world and in
every society are still being confined by lifestyles that are detrimental to the achievement and full enjoyment of Human Rights.

Alcohol use causes diseases like cancer and is an important risk factor for HIV/ Aids, it creates and exacerbates poverty all over the world and is an obstacle for societal development as well as for a human being to live up to her true potential.

In short, alcohol and its magnitude of related harms are obstacles for enjoying Human Rights.