Human Rights Day

by Joanna Kurylo

On December 10, 2010, the world will be celebrating Human Rights Day. This day commemorates the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. While many NGOs and the United Nations will be observing this day with conferences, meetings and through various channels, you too can celebrate this day. Listed below are three ways you can too participate.

• Visit the following link: http://www.amnestyusa.org/take-action-online/page.do?id=1031043 and support human rights by taking an action through Amnesty International. For example, take action on a recent 2008 scandal in Columbia where more than a dozen men from the town of Soacha were executed. Their families are seeking justice and yet the government has done very little. You can write a letter to Angela Maria Holguin, the Minister of Foreign Affairs; Juan Manuel Santos, the President; and Gabriel Silva, the Minister of Defense; and demand action.

• Visit jumo.com and sign up! Jumo is a website started by the co-founder of Facebook that connects you with various organizations for social good around the world. You can follow different issues such as human rights, women’s rights, disaster relief, microfinance, among others and connect to specific organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, the International Rescue Committee and Witness. This lets you stay updated about various top news from different human rights organizations.

• Read the universal Declaration of Human Rights. Adopted in 1948, this document is considered very crucial to human rights and still continues to be relevant. The theme of this year’s Human Rights Day is discrimination. According to article 7: All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination. (http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml)

Please comment below on more ways you can observe Human Rights Day.