International Human Rights Day

DEC 10th is International Human Rights Day, the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted, in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR):” a milestone document proclaiming the inalienable rights  which everyone is inherently entitled to as a human being regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political  or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status” The UN Office of the High  Commissioner for Human Rights has organized a campaign on the theme of We Can all be Human Rights Champions  #Standup4humanrights

Since the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, there have been other declarations, conventions and treaties on specific human rights, including the Canadian Charter on Rights & Freedoms (e.g. right of non-discrimination; women’s human rights; rights of the child; rights of persons with disabilities; rights of migrant workers; rights of indigenous peoples; right to organise and collective bargaining convention; rights of refugees; convention against torture; right not to be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile etc.).

Join the commemoration as a health worker, educator, journalist, lawyer, IT specialist, woman, indigenous person, person with disabilities, LBGTQ , older person, musician, law enforcement personnel, business person, religious /faith leader, refugee, migrant worker, NGO advocate for social justice, nonviolence, women, children, workers etc. Express how your role in society relates to the fulfilment or protection of human rights.

Furthermore, participants can also choose to recite a quotation of well known leaders or citizens around the world (e.g. Nelson Mandela, Pope Francis, Rigoberto Menchu Thum, Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Malala Yousafzai, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Shirin Ebadi, Albert Einstein, Nellie McClung , Dorothy Day etc).