Human Rights Day is marked every year on December 10 to commemorate the day in 1948 the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights, as the main United Nations rights official and his Office plays a major role in coordinating efforts for the yearly observation of Human Rights Day. The date was chosen to honor the United Nations General Assembly’s adoption and proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the first global enunciation of human rights and one of the first major achievements of the new United Nations.
The formal establishment of Human Rights Day occurred at the 317th Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on December 4, 1950, when the General Assembly declared resolution 423, inviting all member states and any other interested organizations to celebrate the day as they saw fit. The day is normally marked both by high-level political conferences and meetings and by cultural events and exhibitions dealing with human rights issues.
Many governmental and non-governmental organizations active in the human rights field also schedule special events to commemorate the day, as do many civil and social-cause organisations.When the General Assembly adopted the Declaration, with 48 states in favor and eight abstentions, it was proclaimed as a “common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations”, towards which individuals and societies should “strive by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance”.
The measure was received by both advocates and critics alike as “being more declarative than legislative, more suggestive than binding. The 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights occurred on 10 December 2008, and the UN Secretary-General launched a year-long campaign leading up to this anniversary. Because the UDHR holds the world record as the most translated document except for the Bible, organizations around the globe used the year to focus on helping people everywhere learn about their rights.