Did you know that today, December 10th, is International Human Rights day?
I really only lea
rnt about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at the Edinburgh Festival this year. It was written by representatives from all regions of the world and adopted on December 10th 1948 as a response to the atrocities of WW2 and to try and prevent the concentration camps horrors from being repeated.
‘Only by recognising every human’s fundamental rights without concession, could there be any chance of an end to similar tragedies. Thus, the United Nations declared that respect and dignity for human beings are “the foundations for freedom, justice and peace in the world.”
It set out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected – pretty amazing.
There’s 30 of them and you can see them here: http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/index.html or there’s videos here: http://www.youthforhumanrights.org/what-are-human-rights/videos/born-free-and-equal
.html
2015’s theme is Freedoms “Our Rights. Our Freedoms. Always.” The year-long campaign will revolve around the theme of rights and freedoms — freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.
Amnesty is running a Write for Your Rights campaign: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/issues/Write-for-Rights-2015
10th December is also the International Animal Rights Day. http://tinyurl.com/qyvkymx Humans’ ability to distinguish right from wrong demands that we act ethically towards other sentient beings. Millions of humans and animals across the world are deliberately harmed by human beings. Yet all of us share the same basic senses, desires and emotions. All of us deserve the right not to be tortured and murdered.
Follow Human Rights Day on Twitter #HumanRightsDay
And Animal Rights Day on tumblr http://tinyurl.com/qyvkymx
Megan Rix’s website is: www.meganrix.com
Ruth Symes’ website is: www.ruthsymes.com