Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Human Rights Day

Today is Human Rights Day.

The date was chosen to honour the United Nations General Assembly's adoption and proclamation, on 10 December 1948, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the first global enunciation of human rights. The commemoration was established in 1950, when the General Assembly invited all states and interested organizations to celebrate the day as they saw fit.

The day is a high point in the calendar of UN headquarters in New York City, United States, and is normally marked by both high-level political conferences and meetings and by cultural events and exhibitions dealing with human rights issues. In addition, it is traditionally on 10 December that the five-yearly United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights and Nobel Peace Prize are awarded. Many governmental and nongovernmental organizations active in the human rights field also schedule special events to commemorate the day, as do many civil and social-cause organizations.

The 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights occurs on December 10, 2008, and the UN Secretary-General has launched a year-long campaign to lead up to this anniversary. Because the UDHR holds the world record as the most translated document (with more than 360 language versions available), organizations around the globe will be able to use the year to focus on helping people everywhere learn about their rights.

So, on this day.... celebrate your right to live, and to do so peacefully.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I didn't know today was human rights day! Thanks for the reminder! We are so lucky to be humans born during this time of the world with all the luxuries we can enjoy. Hopefully more people will be nicer today and remember that we are all... just people!

MaricrisG said...

It's good to know that this is actually celebrated! I hope a lot of people in the world can actually do the same. It's a shame that some don't even have it.

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