Today is Human Rights Day, the day the UN General Assembly chose to honor the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The UDHR was adopted in 1948 and lays out the basic human rights that every person, regardless of race or gender or any other distinction, is entitled to receive.
In 1950, the UN established Human Rights Day and asked the member states to celebrate however they choose. Many governments and non-governmental organizations put together conferences and cultural events to mark the day. This year’s focus is the rights to freedom of opinion and expression and peaceful assembly and association.
If you feel moved to mark the occasion, you can take to Twitter (the UN asks that you use the hashtag #VoiceCount if you’re tweeting about your thoughts on the right to participate in public life and political decision-making), or stroll down to the law library and check out the UDHR quote on the front of the reference desk.