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International
Human Rights Day
Youth Forum
December 09, 2009
Thursday December
10, 2009 is International Human Rights Day. This date is observed
by the international community every year to commemorate the day
in 1948 when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. The Declaration was one of the
UN's first major achievements, and remains a powerful instrument
and symbol worldwide. This historic document's first draft
was authored by a Canadian named John Peters Humphrey who in 1946
was appointed as the first director of the human rights division
of the United Nations Secretariat, where he was the principal drafter
of the declaration.
In celebrating International
Human Rights Day, the Youth Forum recognizes that all human beings
are born with equal and inalienable human rights and freedoms. The
Youth Forum has a longstanding history of placing human rights at
the forefront of our day-to-day work.
The declaration has become
a universal standard for defending and promoting human rights. The
first sentence of the preamble of the declaration reads: "The
recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable
rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom,
justice and peace in the world."
Human Rights Day 2009
on 10 December will focus on non-discrimination. "All human
beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights". The
realization of all human rights - social, economic and cultural
rights as well as civil and political rights - is hampered
by discrimination.
The Youth Forum encourages
young women and men to celebrate Human Rights Day by advocating
non-discrimination, raising awareness and reaching out to local
communities on 10 December and throughout 2010. As the Youth Forum
we note with great exception continued discrimination of young women
and men from full participation in Zimbabwean socio-economic and
political life. As we commemorate this great day today, young Zimbabweans
continue to be persecuted for their political opinions and beliefs;
education continues to be both inaccessible and unaffordable as
hundreds of thousands of students have failed to register for primary,
secondary and tertiary education; millions of youth continue to
be on the periphery of the Zimbabwean economy due to discriminatory
policies; little if any is being done by the Inclusive Government
to address socio-economic and political imbalances spawned by the
post March 29, 2008 state sponsored violence which had devastating
consequences on the livelihoods of mostly young women and men.
Quality and
affordable health care is still beyond the reach of many and as
a result, many citizens die each day because they cannot access
health care even for many diseases which are normally curable. It's
clear that discrimination in accessing basic rights such as health
and education is purely on monetary grounds with only the rich being
able to access such rights.
Inserted by
the Youth Forum Information and Publicity Desk; +263 913 014 693
youthforumpublicity@gmail.com;
youthforumzim@yahoo.co.uk,
+263 913 022 104
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
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