Human Rights Day is celebrated annually across the world on 10 December.
The date was chosen to honor the United Nations General Assembly’s adoption and proclamation, on 10 December 1948, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the first global enunciation of human rights. The formal establishment of Human Rights Day occurred at the 317th Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on 4 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 a high point in the calendar of UN headquarters in New York City, United States, and is normally marked by both high-level political conferences and meetings and by cultural events and exhibitions dealing with human rights issues. In addition, it is traditionally on 10 December that the five-yearly United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights and Nobel Peace Prize are awarded. Many governmental and nongovernmental organizations active in the human rights field also schedule special events to commemorate the day, as do many civil and social-cause organizations.
Human Rights Day 2011 – social media and human rights
This year thousands of people decided the time had come to claim their rights. They took to the streets and demanded change. Many found their voices using the internet and instant messaging to inform, inspire and mobilize supporters to seek their basic human rights.
Social media helped activists organize peaceful protest movements in cities across the globe—in Tunis, in Cairo, in Madrid, in New York, and in cities and towns across the globe—at times in the face of violent repression.
It has been a year like no other for human rights. Human rights activism has never been more topical or more vital. And through the transforming power of social media, ordinary people have become human rights activists.
Human rights belong equally to each of us and bind us together as a global community with the same ideals and values. As a global community we all share a day in common: Human Rights Day on 10 December, when we remember the creation 63 years ago of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
On Human Rights Day 2011 we pay tribute to all human rights defenders and ask you to get involved in the global human rights movement.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights will host a global conversation on human rights through social media on Friday, 9 December at 9:30 A.M., New York time.
Human Rights Day on 10 December in previous years recognized different issues related to Human Rights.
Human Rights Day 2010
Human rights defenders who act to end discrimination
Human Rights Day 2009
Special focus on discrimination
Human Rights Day 2007-2008
UDHR 60th Anniversary
Human Rights Day 2006
Fighting Poverty: A Matter of Obligation, Not Charity
Human Rights Day 2005
Torture and the Global Efforts to Combat it
Human Rights Day 2004
Human Rights Education
More info: http://www.un.org/en/events/humanrightsday/2011/index.shtml