In recognition of the 56th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee is co-sponsoring two public observances in the Boston area that celebrate the ongoing struggle to advance human rights.

A day-long event to be held Saturday, Dec. 11, at the Boston Public Library entitled “Workers' Rights are Human Rights” will feature former Michigan Congressman David Bonior as keynote speaker. Mr. Bonior is national chairperson of American Rights at Work and a professor of labor studies at Wayne State University in Detroit. Charlie Clements, UUSC president, and program associate Jackie Ladd will participate in the conference, which includes workshops, action items and a vigil in Copley Square, adjacent to the library. (International Human Rights Day is Dec. 10 but this commemorative event is being held on Saturday to allow for greater participation.)

UUSC also is co-sponsoring a vigil on International Human Rights Day, Dec. 10, in support of the struggles of the people in the Darfur region of Sudan. The vigil, hosted by the American Anti-Slavery Group, is scheduled for the State House in Boston, Mass., on the evening of Dec. 10, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Nadya Khalife, UUSC's associate for Africa, will join with human rights activists from the Boston area in expressing their dismay at the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Darfur region of Sudan. Participants will take a stand against slavery and genocide in Sudan, and will be asked to sign petitions to the United Nations demanding more forceful action to halt the genocide.

This Human Rights Day event will examine current challenges facing workers in the United States and around the world and provide activists with ideas to organize for joint a action. Mr. Bonior will kick off the opening session, scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., entitled “Globalizing production, globalizing human rights.” The event will conclude with a call to action and a vigil in nearby Copley Square, just outside the library.

The vigil at the State House is intended to raise public awareness of and support for the victims of the humanitarian crisis that continues to unfold in Sudan. To learn about actions you can take to demonstrate your support for peace and humanitarian relief in Sudan, please visit Take Action on Darfur. For more information on the Darfur crisis and how you can aid the victims and help restore peace, visit Help provide relief to victims of humanitarian crisis in Sudan.

UUSC President Charlie Clements said the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, along with the dozens of treaties or conventions that support it and give it power to enforce its principles, has had an enormous impact on protecting human rights and holding government officials accountable for their misdeeds.

“Look at the short amount of time since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was promulgated in 1948,” said Mr. Clements. “It has perhaps had more influence than any single written document in human history as its effects are continuing to cascade down like waters in every corner of the world.”

Around the world, December 10 is Human Rights Day to commemorate the date in 1948 that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. This step proved to be of extreme importance to the post-World War II world. Human rights were for the first time seen as a global responsibility and not just the internal concern of sovereign states.

This document, agreed upon in the ruins of the war by a world desperate not to relive the horrors of unjust policies and systems, is the founding document of and inspiration for the modern framework of international law and international relations. For these reasons, we join people around the world in celebrating the significance of this historic document.

History of the UDHR

In the wake of two devastating world wars, the new international community that arose agreed on a strategy for creating universal human rights norms to be shared by all countries, all communities. The Commission on Human Rights, chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, drafted the UDHR and outlined a vision for an International Bill of Human Rights. This bill, of which the UDHR is the founding document, is also comprised of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Both of these covenants were adopted within 20 years after the creation of the UDHR. Throughout the rest of the 20th century, various conventions and treaties followed on the vision of the UDHR and the International Bill of Rights, specifying the rights of children, women, victims of torture and oppression and many others.

Today, the UDHR has been translated in over 300 languages, making it, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the most translated document in the world. It has been the inspiration for untold numbers of organizations, including UUSC, and individuals around the world that work to make global human rights and social justice a reality. The UDHR is a legally non-binding “declaration,” but it has gradually become a document of considerable authority in international legal proceedings and in the creation of international and national laws and treaties.

Posted Nov. 30, 2004