International Human Rights Day

Human Rights Day on 10 December recognizes the work of human rights defenders worldwide who act to end discrimination. Acting alone or in groups within their communities, every day human rights defenders work to end discrimination by campaigning for equitable and effective laws, reporting and investigating human rights violations and supporting victims.

Human Rights Day is observed by the international community every year on 10 December. It commemorates the day in 1948 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Although the Declaration with its broad range of political, civil, social, cultural and economic rights is not a binding document, it inspired more than 60 human rights instruments which together constitute an international standard of human rights. Today the general consent of all United Nations Member States on the basic Human Rights laid down in the Declaration makes it even stronger and emphasizes the relevance of Human Rights in our daily lives.

Below is the video of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, considered by historians to be one of the greatest of American political speeches. King delivered it on August 28, 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. as part of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march was a vital factor in passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 1965 Voting Rights Act.