Human Rights Day is celebrated annually on 10 December. The United Nations
General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. In
1950 the UN General Assembly officially announced 10 December as Human Rights
Day.
The theme for 2016 is ‘Stand up for someone’s rights today!’
Human Rights Day calls on everyone to stand up for someone’s rights, such
as respect, education, health, clean water, tolerance, etc. The aim is to
reaffirm our common humanity – in the street, at school, at work, in public
transport, in the voting booth, on social media, and so on. This includes
rights for everyone, whether they are disabled, a refugee, belonging to a
minority group, a woman, a child, an indigenous person, religious, an LGBT
person, and anyone at risk of discrimination or violence.
United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said, ‘On Human Rights Day,
let us recommit to guaranteeing the fundamental freedoms and protecting the
human rights of all.’
MARTINA NICOLLS is an international
aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of
Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet
(2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
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