10 December 2020 – World Human Rights Day
AS A VACCINE AGAINST INJUSTICE AND INJUSTICE
“It could become the international Magna Carta, for every man and in every place”
(Eleanor Roosevelt, “First Lady” of the world in 1948)
World Human Rights Day is celebrated on 10 December chosen to commemorate the proclamation by the United Nations General Assembly of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948 – as a new beginning for Humanity: a break from the horrors of World War II, the death of over 50 million people and the extermination of the Jewish people.
It is the most translated document in the world, in over 500 languages.
The Declaration represents the culmination of what was then a widespread awareness in public opinion in all the countries involved in the world conflict, namely the principle of equal dignity, the source of equal rights, of all human beings regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language or political opinion.
Seventy-two years have passed since that historic date, and in many parts of the world this fundamental document is still unheard of.
“A close look at our contemporary societies reveals numerous contradictions that make us wonder whether the equal dignity of all human beings, solemnly proclaimed 70 years ago, is really recognised, respected, protected and promoted in all circumstances. Many forms of injustice persist in the world today, nourished by reductive anthropological visions and an economic model based on profit, which does not hesitate to exploit, discard and even kill human beings. While one part of humanity lives in opulence, another part sees its dignity disregarded, despised or trampled upon and its fundamental rights ignored or violated” (Pope Francis, Encyclical “Fratelli Tutti”).
World Human Rights Day 2020 will be a different day than in previous years, because the health emergency we are currently experiencing has only aggravated even more the precarious condition, in terms of human rights violations, in which a part of the world finds itself.
