Human rights are fragile and often violated around the world, but nowhere more egregiously than in places where conflict leads to on-going armed violence.

Human Rights Day (observed yearly on Dec. 10) has adopted the slogan “dignity and justice to all of us.”

In conflict zones, where civilians are uprooted and terrorized, international observers can foster dignity and justice by bringing the spotlight of world attention, and by applying the moral suasion of nonpartisan advocacy.

Currently, members  of Nonviolent Peaceforce do such work in the new country of South Sudan, where risk of war remains high.

Unarmed civilian peacekeepers, who come from all over the world, are stationed near its Northern border and in other sensitive locations to protect peacemakers and protect civilians, especially children at risk of abduction.

Norm Keegel, Bainbridge Island