The year is 1948. The average cost of a new house is $7,700 and a loaf of bread is 14 cents. Indian Pacifist, Mahatma Gandhi is murdered by a Hindu extremist and Israel is declared as an independent state. The Land Rover is introduced for the first time at the Amsterdam Car Show and NASCAR holds its first race for modified stock cars at Daytona Beach. The World Health Organization is created as instances of Polio are increasing worldwide. Velcro is invented by George deMestral and the game of Scrabble is introduced by James Brunot. The Winter Olympic Games are held in St. Moritz, Switzerland and after a twelve year hiatus due to World War II, the first Summer Olympic Games opened in London, United Kingdom. A 6.7 magnitude earthquake hits Ecuador in the Andes and a new weather record is set in the Yukon when the temperature plummets to -66.11 degrees celcius. Then, on December 10th, 1948, the world comes face to face with the greatest acknowledgement of human rights mankind has ever seen when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR)…an event that sixty years later, would be celebrated worldwide as a document that reinforces “Dignity and justice for all of us.”
As World War II was coming to an end, mankind had witnessed cruelty towards one another that was beyond comprehension, often simply because of a difference in race or religion. Suffering was being endured at the hands of anger and apathy forcing the world to question whether or not there was a better way to harmonize our otherwise depleting value system. It was this divide that inspired national leaders from around the globe to meet and in turn, to form the United Nations. In late 1945, these leaders would proudly state their vision and hope for a peaceful future…
“We, the peoples of the United Nations [are] determined…to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small”.
Three years later, the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights occurred under the belief that “…All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” As the first international document of its kind, the UDHR was intended to set a standard of basic rights inherent to all people – regardless of race or religion, age or gender, economic or social status – without distinction of any kind. The Declaration has come to represent a contract between governments and their people that commands a level of justice, fairness and equality across all boundaries. While not all governments adhere to all human rights treaties, all countries have accepted the UDHR as an influential statement of standards -- an accomplishment that likely surpassed the hopes of even the most optimistic of its original founders.
So this December, sixty years later, in a time that perhaps needs this Declaration more than ever, we raise a glass to the men and women whose vision and refusal to give up created a legacy that has endured the test of some very tumultuous times in hopes of continuing to discrimination a thing of the past.
As World War II was coming to an end, mankind had witnessed cruelty towards one another that was beyond comprehension, often simply because of a difference in race or religion. Suffering was being endured at the hands of anger and apathy forcing the world to question whether or not there was a better way to harmonize our otherwise depleting value system. It was this divide that inspired national leaders from around the globe to meet and in turn, to form the United Nations. In late 1945, these leaders would proudly state their vision and hope for a peaceful future…
“We, the peoples of the United Nations [are] determined…to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small”.
Three years later, the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights occurred under the belief that “…All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” As the first international document of its kind, the UDHR was intended to set a standard of basic rights inherent to all people – regardless of race or religion, age or gender, economic or social status – without distinction of any kind. The Declaration has come to represent a contract between governments and their people that commands a level of justice, fairness and equality across all boundaries. While not all governments adhere to all human rights treaties, all countries have accepted the UDHR as an influential statement of standards -- an accomplishment that likely surpassed the hopes of even the most optimistic of its original founders.
So this December, sixty years later, in a time that perhaps needs this Declaration more than ever, we raise a glass to the men and women whose vision and refusal to give up created a legacy that has endured the test of some very tumultuous times in hopes of continuing to discrimination a thing of the past.
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