Message on Human Rights Day
(December 10, 2008) The challenges we face today are as daunting as those that confronted the Declaration’s drafters. We face a food emergency and a global financial crisis. Humankind’s assault on the natural environment continues. There is political repression in too many countries. And as ever, the most vulnerable continue to be on the frontlines of hardship and abuse, said Ban Ki Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations. He was speaking at New York on the 10th of December on the occasion of the Human Rights Day and the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. He said that the Declaration reflects humanity’s aspirations for a future of prosperity, dignity and peaceful coexistence. Its adoption was a landmark. Today, the Declaration remains a core part of the UN’s very identity. Rights, and especially their violation, must hold the whole world in solidarity, he added. On this Human Rights Day, it is my hope that we will all act on our collective responsibility to uphold the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration. We can only honour the towering vision of that inspiring document when its principles are fully applied everywhere, for everyone, said Ban Ki Moon.
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