Human Rights Day 2022

“Dignity, Freedom, and Justice for All” is the United Nations Human Rights Day 2022 slogan which ushers to the launching of a year-long campaign to promote the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR 75) which will be celebrated on 10 December 2023.

Much has been done to guarantee and promote the human rights of peoples, especially of the most vulnerable groups. However, respect for life and the dignity of the human being as well as the freedoms of peoples and their cry for justice and peace and creation’s integrity, remain a global challenge for humanity. “The rights and values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provide benchmarks to guide our collective actions so that no one is left behind” (UDHR 75). It is our responsibility – to #StandUp4HumanRights – to protect, promote and fulfill the human rights of all.

The year-long campaign – UDHR 75 – aims to

• Educate by raising greater community understanding and awareness of the UDHR’s legacy and relevance today, and how the UDHR has guided the UN Human Rights’ commitment;
• Promote a change of attitude that counteracts growing skepticism and indifference so as to uphold and defend human rights;
• Empower and mobilize by providing knowledge and tools to help people protect, promote and fulfill their rights.

These three objectives of UDHR 75 are IIMA and VIDES Human Rights Office’s thematic priorities as well. To ensure that the human rights concerns of our local partners, children, youth, and women, are being addressed at the local and national levels, in 2022, the Office has stepped up its advocacy and capacity-building activities through the UPR Submissions on the human rights situations in India, Ecuador, Brazil, Philippines, Argentina, Benin, and Zambia. These submissions and its executive summaries were disseminated to among 34 States for Ecuador, 45 States for India, 49 States for Brazil, and 34 States for the Philippines.

While the outcomes of the reviews are still to be adopted by the Human Rights Council in March 2023, its preliminary results are worth noteworthy. As in the case of Ecuador, 15 UPR recommendations, referring to key issues raised in the IIMA and VIDES UPR submission, were addressed to Ecuador by the States we reached out to through our advocacy efforts; and 8 out of these 15 recommendations specifically refer to IIMA and VIDES priority issues. The inclusion of those recommendations in the UPR session and their acceptance by the State reviewed provide a concrete opportunity for monitoring and implementing the recommendations on those specific human rights issues at the local level. In other words, IIMA contributed to create a conducive environment for more actions by the government and therefore better protection of the rights of women and girls in Ecuador.

The Human Rights Office in Geneva, true to its vision and mission, remains committed to open new horizons and nourish the dreams of young people by promoting the dignity, freedom, inclusion, and justice for all through the right to education and human rights education.