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Hello? Is this Desmond Tutu? Of course I don’t mind if Mary Robinson and Graça Machel are on the line. Happy Human Rights Day. Oh, and thanks for everything you’ve done to make the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the UN Declaration for Human Rights such a positive occasion. So how are you?

And that is pretty much how the conference call did not go.

Me and five other Global Voices bloggers were given the opportunity to ask questions of these incredible human rights leaders who have recently joined forces with other great leaders as The Elders. The conference call system was very bad, and we didn’t all get to ask the questions we prepared, but the conversation was fluid, and the Elders on the line were genuine and friendly. I’ve written more about what they said on openDemocracy and Global Voices. Hopefully, next time there is such a call, hundreds more bloggers could listen in.

The Elders want to reach out to bloggers because they’ve launched a campaign to help “reclaim human rights for individuals”. It’s called Every Human Has Rights and it involves getting around a billion people to sign the Declaration of Human Rights (go sign, you’ll be impressed to read the plain text version). They’re also asking people and groups to upload human rights videos to The Hub.

So much gets hidden in the world of NGOs, IGOs, conferences and summits, that reaching out to ordinary citizens (or “extraordinary,” as Tutu says) is key. Technology is enabling people everywhere to document and broadcast their own life situations via websites like Global Voices and The Hub. It’s exactly the ammunition human rights leaders need to help push for change.

It’s remarkable that citizen media has come this far. When global heroes like the ones above are asking bloggers for their help, advice, and attention, it means there’s real power there to be tapped. We need to think hard about what more we can do to amplify the voices of people around the world who really need to be heard.

One way to begin is to listen.