Human Rights Day is observed every year on 10th December — the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted, in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The UDHR is a milestone document that proclaims the inalienable rights which everyone is 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. Available in more than 500 languages, it is the most translated document in the world.
Rights of humans come to them due to their respective position in their families, status, a position at work etc. They are also granted naturally to a person owing to his citizenship, religious status, position in a group etc.
The ancient sacred texts of every tradition across the world speak of fundamental human rights and duties as an individual. They are guiding lights which have elaborated in detail about the context and significance of human rights and activities in society. Later in 1919, many laws favouring the labour classes were formulated to protect the concerns of working-class men and women, to look into their health factors and welfare schemes.
At the closure of the Second World War in 1939, the human rights protocol had received more excellent vision and meaning compared to earlier years. The mass massacre of the Nazis put the world to focus on the existence of human rights and called in for a better perspective. In 1941, Franklin Roosevelt stressed the need for essential freedom of humans. Later, 56 UN member nations accepted the UN proposal and have been following suit.
The formal establishment of Human Rights Day occurred at the 317th Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on 4th December 1950, when the General Assembly declared resolution 423(V), inviting all member states and any other interested organizations to celebrate the day as they saw fit. The day is normally marked both by high-level political conferences and meetings and by cultural events and exhibitions dealing with human rights issues. On 10th December, the five-yearly United Nations Prizes in the Field of Human Rights and Nobel Peace Prize are awarded. Many governmental and non-governmental organizations active in the human rights field also schedule special events to commemorate the day, as do many civil and social-cause organizations.
The aim of the Declaration of Human Rights is to establish a common standard of living for all people across the planet that everyone is entitled to, and to in turn encourage all UN member states to strive towards the said standard of living for the people in their nation.
Although the rights are seen as more declarative than legally binding, they are commonly acknowledged to have had an impact on how human rights are perceived and to be a force for good.
This year’s Human Rights Day theme relates to the COVID-19 pandemic and focuses on the need to build back better by ensuring Human Rights are central to recovery efforts. We will reach our common global goals only if we are able to create equal opportunities for all, address the failures exposed and exploited by COVID-19, and apply human rights standards to tackle entrenched, systematic, and intergenerational inequalities, exclusion and discrimination.
10th December is an opportunity to reaffirm the importance of human rights in re-building the world we want, the need for global solidarity as well as our interconnectedness and shared humanity.
Under UN Human Rights’ generic call to action “Stand Up for Human rights”, UN aims to engage the general public, UN partners and the UN family to bolster transformative action and showcase practical and inspirational examples that can contribute to recovering better and fostering more resilient and just societies.
Human rights are at the heart of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as in the absence of human dignity one cannot hope to drive sustainable development. Human Rights are driven by progress on all SDGs, and the SDGs are driven by advancements on human rights.
The youth of the country is responsible for leading the country and acting as change-makers when it comes to transforming the human rights scene of respective countries. The zeal and potential of the youth can create the next generation of leaders and create a different place for human rights to thrive and be reachable to the more significant population.
The youth of this country should actively participate for the protection, promotion and preserving of human rights. Human rights are the necessities of a person, and it does not discriminate anyone on the grounds of caste, creed, religion, sex, community, nationality or economic status.
The dignity and rights of every human come naturally by birth and cannot be claimed or taken away by power. A civilised society is one that believes in practising human rights and empowers people to question the authorities in case of a thing gone wrong. The authorities at the higher order of working have always believed in the power of the youth to contribute to the protection of these rights explicitly.
People need to know about human rights. Awareness in this context is beneficial as people need to know the constitutional rights they are entitled to. The United Nations General Assembly needs to be recognised for its massive efforts in strengthening its endeavours towards providing better human rights awareness on a global scale.
The efforts would be a sure shot success if all citizens put their hands together and co-operate with each other in executing these rights and also educating their familiar circles with issues of human rights.
