9 DECEMBER 2009
UNA-UK celebrates 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Human Rights Day is celebrated every year on 10 December. On that day in 1948 the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). This year, Human Rights Day is especially significant as this remarkable document celebrates its 60th birthday.

The Declaration set out for the first time the fundamental human rights and freedoms to which every human being is entitled. It represents a commitment by the international community to uphold the values of dignity, justice, fairness, equality and respect. The UDHR is the cornerstone of an expanding system of human rights protection, and has inspired people all over the world to claim their rights.

A key priority for UNA-UK over the past year has been celebrating the legacy of the UDHR.

Human Rights Hero competition winner announced!

Throughout 2007-08 UNA-UK ran a competition entitled ‘Who is YOUR human rights hero?’ to get people thinking about human rights defenders - brave women and men, both famous and unknown, who have often at great cost taken a stand for the Universal Declaration. Contestants were invited to nominate individuals, groups of people or organisations.

The winner, Thupten Palden, is a 19-year-old Tibetan student at Hastings College of Arts & Technology, and the Treasurer of the UNA-UK group there. His human rights hero is Tsering Woeser, the Tibetan poet, essayist and blogger whose works have been banned in China and Tibet. Thupten’s entry argues that Woeser deserves special recognition for her championing of freedom of opinion and expression. The Foreign Secretary David Miliband presented Thupten with his prize on behalf of UNA-UK at an event hosted by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office to mark UDHR60.

Read about the event on the FCO website

New UDHR60 teaching pack released

UNA-UK teamed up with UNESCO Associated Schools in the UK to produce a human rights teaching pack. This resource serves as an introduction to human rights and has been sent to all UK secondary schools. The core message is simple: human rights matter to everyone, including children in the UK. The pack also highlights the links between human rights and armed conflict, climate change and international development. A UDHR60 poster specially designed for UNA-UK is included in the pack, which was generously funded by the UK Department for International Development and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office.
View the entire resource at: www.una.org.uk/learnabouthumanrights

Want to get involved?

In his message for Human Rights Day 2008, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expresses the hope that “we will all act on our collective responsibility to uphold the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration”. You can join the growing global network of people who have pledged to uphold its values by visiting www.everyhumanhasrights.org/

To listen to the Secretary-General’s message (and more!), visit www.un.org/events/humanrights/2008

For further action points, visit www.una.org.uk/dosomething

To find out more about UNA-UK’s human rights work, visit www.una.org/humanrights