This holiday was proposed to be celebrated by the UN General Assembly. The date relates to the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On December 10, 1948, this declaration was adopted, and since 1950 a holiday has been celebrated.
Every year, the United Nations marks the theme of Human Rights Day. In 2012, this topic was "My vote matters."
From the history of the holiday
In the Soviet Union there was no such holiday. For the authorities, human rights defenders were then dissidents and renegades. It was believed that the CPSU stood for the protection of all human rights. In the district committee, the Central Committee could complain about any boss. In the newspapers controlled by the same CPSU, too, complaints were often printed. But there was no one to complain to the party.
Then, in the 70s, a human rights movement was born. It consisted of people dissatisfied with the policy of the party. In 1977, on December 10, the participants of this movement for the first time held an event for World Human Rights Day. It was a "meeting of silence" and he passed in Moscow, on Pushkin Square.
On the same day in 2009, the representatives of the democratic movement in Russia again held a "Meeting of Silence" in the same place. This they wanted to show that human rights in Russia are again rudely violated.
International Human Rights Day in different countries
In South Africa, this holiday is considered national. There it is celebrated on March 21, when the Week of Solidarity with Peoples against Racism and Racial Discrimination begins. This date is also the anniversary of the massacre in Sharpville in 1960. Then the policemen shot a crowd of African-Americans who went to the demonstration. That day, about 70 people were killed. The day of human rights in Belarus is important for its citizens. On this day every year people come out into the streets and demand from the authorities to stop the total trampling of human rights and freedoms.
Many human rights organizations, including the UN Human Rights Committee, have argued that gross violations of human rights have been and are still occurring in the Republic of Belarus under President Alexander Lukashenko.
In the Republic of Kiribati this holiday in general became a non-working day.
In Russia, many official and unofficial events are held on Human Rights Day. In 2001, in honor of this holiday, a prize was established for them. Sakharov. It is awarded to the Russian media in the single nomination "For journalism as an act".