The date was chosen to remember the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948 in Paris. The Declaration was the first universal enunciation of human rights which posed the basis for the development of human rights globally.

For further information please visit:

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Day2012/Pages/HRD2012.aspx and http://www.cgfmanet.org/_21_.asp?sez=21&sotsez=1&detSotSez=1&doc=679&Lingua=2