World Human Rights Day – 10th December 2020
World Human rights day is observed every year on the 10th of December. The famous words that linger in all our ears when we hear of human rights are – equality, justice, freedom, peace, hope, dignity, lawful living, prosperity and many more. The General Assembly of the United Nations passed the resolution of the universal declaration of human rights in the year 1948.
It is not restricted to a day’s celebration; instead, it follows up for an entire year till the anniversary date comes by. This article talks about the various factors of World Human Rights Day 2020. We shall discuss more on its history, significance, themes and celebration. Towards the end of the article, we shall also review a few relevant FAQs that would give a quick breeze to the audience about the important day.
World Human Rights Day History
The world has struggled to come to terms with achieving fundamental rights for their survival. In one part of the world, there is a trend of growing income and relatively higher standards of living. On the other hand, some communities and groups cannot afford even a single square meal per day. The latter group is sadly larger in number compared to the former.
The United Nations took to the media to educate and spread the message of human rights through the celebration of World Human Rights Day. The massive propaganda of fundamental human rights to all human beings is not a very old thought. It started much later, and World War 2 acted a precursor to bringing human rights issues to the frontline of the world.
Rights of humans come to them due to their respective position in their families, status, a position at work etc. It is 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.
Importance of Human Rights Day 2020
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 Universal Declaration of Human rights that is adopted by the UN in the year 1948 has published the official document in more than 500 languages, making it easily accessible to the global population.
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.
International Human Rights Day 2020 Theme
Some of the past year themes that have created a substantial impact on millions of lives are enlisted below for quick reference:
- The year 2016 gave a very benevolent theme to the world, it said: “Stand up for someone’s rights today”.
- The year 2017 marked the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of human rights by the UN Charter. Hence the theme marked for the year was: “Let’s stand up for equality, justice and human dignity”.
- The year 2018 more or less carried similar theme resembling 2017 and it said:” Stand up for human rights”.
- The year 2019 put the entire focus on the next generation and quoted as “Youth standing up for human rights”.
- 2020 is expecting a bigger and brighter theme to celebrate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the UN in 1948. Let us wait eagerly to find out the theme for this year!!
Human Rights Day Celebrations
Human rights are the fundamental right of every individual, community, group, nation and the world as a whole. Some of the most common ways of celebrating the day include:
- Arranging socio-political events, meetings and conferences to highlight the theme of the day.
- Exhibitions displaying caricatures and epic series of the evolution of human rights over the years are common ways of celebration.
- Cultural events by children are the biggest highlights of the day.
- Schools spread awareness among their pupils by arranging competitions like debates, essay competitions, poster making events, painting competitions, etc.
- On the other hand, the day shall also be observed with a lot of protests and marches against incidents that took a toll on human rights execution.
- Many political set-ups use the day as a platform for talking about child rights, consumer rights and other allied rights that co-exist with human rights.
Conclusion
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is World Human Rights Day?
The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the year 1948. To recognise and celebrate this day, World Human Rights Day is celebrated.
2. Why do we celebrate World Human Rights Day?
We celebrate World Human Rights Day to create awareness about elementary rights of human beings and also to propagate the UN’s efforts in empowering the global population in issues of human rights.
3. What is the theme of Human Rights Day 2020?
The theme is yet to be decided regarding 2020 theme of World Human rights Day celebrations.
4. What are the five fundamental human rights?
The five most basic human rights are – right to life, right to freedom, right to equality, directly to practise one’s choice of religion and right for a fair trial in a court of law.
5. What is the essential human right?
UN considers the freedom of speech as the essential human right entitled to human beings.
6. Why do we need human rights?
Human rights are the fundamental rights that entitle human being the right to live, liberty, equality and freedom of speech.
7. Which human right is violated the most?
The Human rights Commission of South Africa conducted a worldwide survey and found out that the right to equality is the most violated in the world.
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