The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: 60 years later

December 10 is International Human Rights Day and 2007 marks the start of a United Nations campaign recognizing the sixtieth anniversary of the 1948 human rights declaration by the UN. In Canada, progress in human rights has been made, but our record is not flawless.

The international community observes Human Rights Day every year on December 10. It commemorates the day in 1948 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The UDHR was the first international recognition that all human beings have fundamental rights and freedoms and it remains a living, relevant document today. It continues to hold the world record as the most translated document with more than 360 language versions of the document.

The theme of the United Nations campaign is Dignity and justice for all of us and was chosen to reinforce the vision of human rights as practical—and not theoretical—goal for the world. In Canada, there are at least two actions that could be taken to further that goal.

The first is to sign the United Nations Declaration on Aboriginal Rights. On September 13 2007, the Harper government refused to sign the declaration that provides a set of minimum standards for the rights of Aboriginal peoples worldwide. A total of 143 countries supported the declaration while only four countries voted against: Canada, the United States, New Zealand and Australia.

The second action is to back away from free-trade negotiations with Columbia, a country notorious for its human rights violations. Over 550 trade unionists, as well as many other Columbians, have been murdered since the paramilitary Columbian president, Alvaro Uribe, came to power. When Prime Minister Harper visited Columbia in July 2007, his focus was on getting a trade agreement, not human rights.

To learn more and to become engaged on human rights, visit the United Nations Association in Canada. Former Supreme Court of Canada judge Louise Arbour is the current United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN website is also a valuable source of information.