10 人权日 Human Rights Day

Human Rights Day is one of the most important events on the United Nations calendar. It takes place on the 10th of December every year. It was on this day in 1948 that the U.N. created the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Only 48 states initially agreed to the Declaration. Of course, the vast majority of countries accept it today. The High Commissioner for Human Rights described the importance of this day: "On Human Rights Day, it is my hope that we will all act on our collective responsibility to uphold the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration. We can only honour the towering vision of that inspiring document when its principles are fully applied everywhere, for everyone."

The focus of the day is at the U.N. headquarters in New York City. There are various international conferences, meetings, cultural events and exhibitions all dealing with human rights issues. There is a different theme each year on Human Rights Day. It is sad that we still need this day. It actually seems we need it more as the decades pass. There are still too many countries that do not respect even the most basic of rights, including the right to life. As globalization makes the world smaller, problems are getting bigger. There is still so much work to be done to guarantee the right to freedom of thought, to practice one’s own religion, and the right to education.