The date was chosen to honour the United Nations General Assembly's adoption and proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on 10 December 1948 - the first global enunciation of human rights.
The Human Rights Day was formally established at the General Assembly on 4 December 1950, when all member states and any other interested organizations were invited to celebrate the day as they saw fit.
The day is a high point in the calendar of UN headquarters in New York City, 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.
Resources
- Human Rights Day
- Information about Human Rights Day on the Wikipedia site.
- Human Rights - United Nations
- Link to the Human Rights section of the United Nations website, including information grouped by thematic issues, international courts, tribunals and other resources.
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
- Online text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on the United Nations website.
- United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child
- The Convention on the Rights of the Child, agreed by the United Nations, came into force in September 1990. The text of the Convention is available online or as a PDF file.
- British Red Cross - War crime evidence
This material looks at legal processes, specifically following the conflict during the 1990s in the former Yugoslavia.
- British Red Cross - War crimes trial
Find out about the war crimes trial of Dražen Erdemovic, a soldier in the 10th Sabotage Detachment of the Bosnian Serb Army.
- British Red Cross - International criminal court
This teacher briefing focuses on the work of the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
- British Red Cross - Justice and Fairness
The Justice and Fairness teaching resource allows students to explore issues of fairness and justice through the lens of international humanitarian law or the “laws of war”.
- British Red Cross - Global Lines
A teaching resource that introduces secondary school students to concepts of global citizenship.
- British Red Cross - Positive images
The Positive Images toolkit is an educational resource for teachers, youth workers and other educators to teach young people about migration and development.
- British Red Cross - Somewhere to run to
This interactive resource for 7-11 year olds enables young people to create their own model of an emergency camp through considering the tough choices people make in a disaster.
- British Red Cross - Needs and wants auction
Use this needs and wants auction activity to get young people discussing how to cope in a crisis.
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