December 10, 2013 marks the 65th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the statement of fundamental freedoms and privileges that is considered to be the foundation of international human rights law.
This year’s Human Rights Day also coincides with the end of a yearlong series of activities commemorating and following up on the 20th anniversary of the World Conference on Human Rights, where States adopted the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action to advance the development and implementation of international human rights standards and called for the establishment of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Around the world, different events will be held to celebrate the OHCHR Human Rights Day theme of 20 Years: Working for Your Rights.
Today, a special event is taking place at the UN’s New York Headquarters to present the awards for the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights for 2013. [OHCHR News: Human Rights Prize] The six winners honored are: Biram Dah Abeid, a campaigner against slavery from Mauritania; Hilmnijeta Apuk, human rights activist for the rights of people with restricted growth from Kosovo; Liisa Kauppinen, President emeritus of the World Federation of the Deaf from Finland; Khadija Ryadi, former President of the Morocco Association for Human Rights from Morocco; Malala Yousafzai, a student activist from Pakistan; and the Supreme Court of Justice of Mexico. [OHCHR News: Human Rights Prize Winners]
Earlier this month, the OHCHR hosted a day-long event, Human Rights: The Next 20 Years on December 5 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. [OHCHR Events] The event featured a variety of conversations surrounding human rights issues, including equality, participation in economic and political life, and the World Wide Web and the free flow of information. [OHCHR News] The event included four interactive discussions with notable participants such as Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; Hina Jilani, former Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Human Rights Defenders; Sir Tim Berners-Lee, computer scientist and inventor of the World Wide Web; Chief Wilton Littlechild, Chair of the Human Rights Council’s Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; and Christof Heyns, Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions. The session is available to be watched online at http://webtv.un.org.
Human Rights Day commemorates the day the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the General Assembly on December 10, 1948. For more information regarding the significance of the adoption of the Universal Declaration and Human Rights Day in general, visit the OHCHR’s websites on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Human Rights Day. The UN’s Human Rights Day website also includes event information, videos, and other promotional material about today’s celebrations.