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Human Rights Day is December 10th

In honor of this year’s Human Rights Day (December 10), Team AgLearn is providing information and resources to encourage engagement with this important annual event.

Background on Human Rights Day

Human Rights Day originated in 1950 when the United Nations General Assembly invited all nations to observe December 10 as Human Rights Day through resolution 423(V).

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was drafted as “a common standard of achievement for all peoples and nations” and was the first universal statement that all human beings have certain inherent rights that are inalienable. Prior to its adoption, human rights had been expressed in other international and domestic instruments, such as the Charter of the United Nations External and the United States Bill of Rights, but there was no dedicated statement about human rights at the international level.

The UDHR consists of a preamble and thirty articles covering such human rights as freedom of expression, assembly, movement, and religion. It sets out the basic principle of equality and non-discrimination in terms of the enjoyment of human rights, and affirms that everyone shall be free from slavery, torture, and arbitrary arrest or detention. Article 1 describes the philosophy on which the UDHR is based. It reads: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”

Relevant AgLearn Resources

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