George Clooney has accepted to be Ambassador for Human Rights of Prisoners for the city of Rome and the Communità of Sant’Egidio.
Most modern societies are based on certain basic rights. The right to a fair trial. The right to face your accuser and the charges against you. The presumption of innocence. The human treatment of even our most repugnant.
Certain important landmarks – the Magna Carta, the writ of habeas corpus and the Geneva Convention – were all designed to make sure that we, as a society, were better than the reactions of individuals. This is certainly one of those times.
All of us as a world community must take the difficult steps to keep these values intact. This is not a conservative or liberal issue. Nor is it any one country’s issue. It is all of ours. And it is a battle that must always be waged, knowing it can never be fully won.
I stand with Mayor Veltroni, the Communità of Sant’Egidio, the people of Rome and all the citizens of the world in bringing voice to that fight.
It’s an honor.