Human Rights Day is celebrated on December 10 every year and it proclaims the basic rights everyone is inherently entitled to as a human being irrespective of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinions, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

It came into effect in 1948 when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is available in more than 500 languages. It is also the most translated document in the world.

The Human Rights Day was formally adopted at the Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on 4th December 1950. This was the first-ever global document on human rights which outlined the fundamental rights of all human beings that need to be protected universally.

According to the UN’s official site, “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948.”

In 1993, an autonomous public body, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India, was established for the protection and promotion of human rights, which works on rights relating to life, liberty, equality, and dignity of an individual.

On the occasion of Human Rights Day, Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres said that the COVID-19 pandemic not only has had a disproportionate impact on “vulnerable groups including frontline workers, people with disabilities, older people, women and girls, and minorities,” but also highlighted that human rights are universal and protect everyone.

“On Human Rights Day and every day, let us resolve to act collectively, to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and build a better future for all,” he stated.

The theme of Human Rights Day 2020 is Recover Better – Stand Up for Human Rights. This year’s theme is closely associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. It focuses on the need to build back better by ensuring that human rights are central to recovery efforts.

According to the UN, common global goals can only be reached if one is able to create equal opportunities for all as well as address failures exposed by COVID-19 and apply human rights standards to tackle intergenerational inequalities, exclusion, and discrimination.

According to the UN Human Rights’ call to action ‘Stand Up for Human Rights’, the organization aims to engage the general public, partners, and the UN family to facilitate transformative action.

Human rights are at the heart of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), without which one cannot hope to drive sustainable development. By ending discrimination of any kind, coupled with addressing inequalities, encouraging participation and solidarity, and promoting sustainable development one can build back a world that is better, resilient, just, and sustainable.

On Twitter, Human Rights Day was the top trend with politicians to UN’s specialized agencies advocating the need for basic rights. On this day and onwards we are getting an opportunity to reaffirm the importance of human rights in re-building the world we want for global solidarity as well as our interconnectedness and shared humanity.

The author is a student member of Amity Centre of Happiness