Human rights are a Jesmond issue, according to current and former councillors involved in recent votes and events.

This month’s meeting of the Newcastle City Council overwhelmingly backed a motion declaring support for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the council will write to the government to outline its position, including its opposition to austerity measures.

North Jesmond councillor Gerry Keating (Liberal Democrats) voted in favour of the motion. He told JesmondLocal: “Rights are universal, so all residents should be entitled to them.”

According to the motion, the council’s letter to the government will condemn “the massive cuts to Council funding and Universal Credit that have brought misery to the most vulnerable and disadvantaged members of society and torn at its social fabric.”

The council also vowed to reject any efforts to repeal the UK’s Human Rights Act and replace it with a British Bill of Rights, “for which no convincing case has been presented.”

The council’s move joins a flurry of activity to mark the 70th anniversary of the Declaration, which was first proclaimed in Paris in December, 1948.

At a recent gathering at the Civic Centre, the first panel discussion was on austerity and poverty as a human rights issue. Speakers, including the organiser, councillor Rebecca Shatwell, were scathing about what austerity is doing to Newcastle and other parts of the country. “Austerity breeds fascism and division, “ Shatwell said. “Austerity also kills people. It leads to homelessness, poverty, mental health problems and suicide.”

Felicity Mendelson, Labour councillor for South Jesmond, was in attendance. She told JesmondLocal: “I was very impressed – and depressed by the speakers about the impact of austerity and universal credit on people living in Newcastle. I have had a look at the initial report of the UN Rapporteur who visited Newcastle and talked to people at the council, at foodbanks and voluntary agencies. It relates to Jesmond as it does to all parts of the city.”

Mendelson was referring to a visit last year by Philip Alston, a UN expert on extreme poverty and human rights. He found that austerity measures meant Britain was in breach of several human rights agreements, including those covering women, children and the disabled. He estimated that 20 percent of the country was in poverty, with 1.5 million “destitute.” Alston said the level of child poverty was “a social calamity and an economic disaster, all rolled into one.”

Former city councillor Mick Bowman, who grew up in Jesmond, addressed the gathering in his position as branch secretary of public service union UNISON. He told JesmondLocal: “Many people think of Jesmond as a uniformly wealthy part of the city, but it’s not. There are people there who are unemployed, people with disabilities living on benefits, people who are in working poverty because of poor wages and insecure work, so the impact of austerity does have a profound effect on people in Jesmond as well.”

Speakers on another panel talked about facing racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in Newcastle. And on the international front, there were first-hand accounts of prejudice faced by Muslims in Bosnia and the Roma community in Romania.

Several speakers called on community groups and local government in Newcastle to work together to improve life for locals, in the face of what is perceived as indifference at the national level.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights has 30 articles in total, including the right to an adequate standard of living, a fair trial, free movement within one’s own country, and the right to seek asylum.

The United Nations is currently calling on people to submit videos of themselves reading their favourite article from the Declaration as part of a multimedia project called Add Your Voice.