The Associate Alumnae of Douglass College proudly recognizes International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2020, which marks a global call to action to uphold the human rights of all people. Human Rights Day commemorates the day the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This Declaration is one of its major achievements as well as the first enunciation of human rights across the world. The day is observed every year on December 10.
The United Nations’ theme for this year’s Human Rights Day, “Recover Better – Stand Up for Human Rights,” reminds us that human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. Human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more.
As we acknowledge this day, it is an opportunity to reaffirm the importance of human rights and raise awareness. It is a time to recognize that women’s rights are fundamental to human rights. It is also a time for us to foster and build a more resilient and just world and to stand up for our own rights and those of others.
The AADC continues to provide an inclusive space, through the AADC Excellence in Inclusion and Equity Initiative, for our alumnae community to build on intrinsic trust and to discuss how we can advance equity and inclusion in the context of uncomfortable realities.
“This important Initiative offers our community the chance to connect and learn from alumnae, friends and partners, who are advocates in the pursuit of ensuring the equitable rights of others,” says AADC Executive Director Valerie Anderson ’81.
The UN notes on this annual commemoration that “we will reach our common global goals only if we are able to create equal opportunities for all, address the failures exposed and exploited by COVID-19, and apply human rights standards to tackle entrenched, systematic, and intergenerational inequalities, exclusion and discrimination.”
Human rights gain new meaning when they become a reality in the daily life of every single person in the world.
