Intenational human right day 10th december Establishment • Human Rights Day is observed by the international community every year on 10 December. • The UN General Assembly proclaimed 10 December as Human Rights Day in 1950, to bring to the attention ‘of the peoples of the world’ the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations. From 1950 to Present The establishment of High Commissioner • The United Nations General Assembly created the mandate of High Commissioner for the promotion and protection of all human rights in December 1993. • The creation of the position of High Commissioner has enabled an independent, authoritative voice to speak out for human rights worldwide. • The Office of the High Commissioner responds to crises, supports human rights defenders, and brings human rights closer to people. Through advocacy, monitoring and training activities, it contributes to legislative and policy reforms to increase accountability for human rights violations and advance human rights HUMAN RIGHTS ACHIEVEMENTS in 20 years • 1)Economic, social, cultural, civil, and political rights and the right to development are recognized as universal, indivisible, and mutually reinforcing rights of all human beings. • 2)Human rights have become central to the global conversation regarding peace, security and development. • 3) Additional explicit protections in international law now exist covering, among others, children, women, victims of torture, persons with disabilities, and regional institutions. • 4) Women’s rights are now acknowledged as fundamental human rights. Discrimination and acts of violence against women are at the forefront of the human rights discourse. HUMAN RIGHTS ACHIEVEMENTS in 20 years • the Committee has significantly contributed to the recognition of violence against women as human rights issue. The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, adopted in December 1993, sets out the measures that States and international agencies should take to ensure the elimination of all forms of violence against women, whether in the public or private sphere; an Optional Protocol to the Convention was adopted in 1999. • 5)There is now an international framework that recognizes the challenges facing migrants and their families which guarantees their rights and those of undocumented migrants. • 6) The rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender individuals have been placed on the international agenda. Nobel Peace Price for Human right activists • Nobel Peace Prize was initiated from 1901 onward as the will of Alfred Nobel, the famous inventor of dynamite in Sweden. The coveted Nobel Peace prize is decided by a Committee in Norway .Until 2012, a total of 93 peace prizes have been awarded. The award has been given so far to fifteen women. Out of these, Mother Teresa from India (1979), Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma (1991) and Shirin Ebadi of Iran (2003) are more renowned. To date, the youngest Nobel Peace Prize Laureate is also a woman. 32 years old Tawakkol Karman from Yemen co shared it with two others in 2011. • The five members Norwegian Nobel Committee appointed by the Norwegian Parliament is responsible for selecting the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates. A nomination may only be submitted by any person who meets the nomination criteria and the deadline is usually in February. The Nobel committee then shortlists without revealing and in October laureates are chosen. • With this background, a Nobel Prize for Pakistan is fine but who deserves the most? Benazir Bhutto, Mala Yousafzai or Bilqees Edhi remains debateable. Nobel peace price nominees(Pakistan) Great leader of the world,Daughter of the East. Mohtarama Benazir Bhutto was a visionary leader. She was committed to her homeland and her beloved country. She struggled for democracy in Pakistan within the country and abroad. Nobel peace price nominees(Pakistan) • According to a news item Malala Yousafzai, the schoolgirl-turned-icon of Taliban resistance from Pakistan is among the record 259 nominees for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. • the passion for Malala took an interesting turn when number of activists launched online petitions for her Nobel peace prize nomination. This caught eye of main stream media and voice became stronger with thousands of people pouring in to show their support including Gordon Brown, the UN special envoy for education. A large number of Pakistanis mainly influenced by print and electronic media supported this cause and can be called as the first group. • But unfortunately she hasnt selected. The Nobel Peace Prize 2011 It was awarded jointly to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkol Karman "for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work". • Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee, Tawakkol Karman. The Nobel Peace Prize 2003 • The Nobel Peace Prize 2003 was awarded to Shirin Ebadi "for her efforts for democracy and human rights. She has focused especially on the struggle for the rights of women and children". Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela • • • • Nelson Mandela, Born in 1918 in a small village in the eastern Cape of South Africa, Rolihlahla Dalibhunga and died at the age of 95, spent 27 years in prison in South Africa. He joined the African National Congress (ANC) and very early on began advocating for political and social reform. In 1990, when he finally walked through the gates of Pollsmoor Prison a free man, the BBC described dancing in the streets across the country and reported a crowd of 50,000 had gathered in front of the City Hall in Cape Town to hear him speak. His speech from the dock at the opening of his trial in 1964 is one of his most famous. Describing what the ANC was fighting for as “a struggle for the right to live”, Mandela then defined his role: “During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela • Mandela was subsequently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and in 1994 became South Africa’s first black president. • Mandela supervised the transformation of South Africa from an apartheid state that served minority interests to one that served the needs of all citizens without discrimination and began the gradual process of building a truly rainbow nation • Mandela actively promoted women’s rights. The first Speaker of the multi-racial Parliament was a woman. Pillay herself was singled out by Mandela and was appointed by him as the first non-white woman to the South African High Court • At 71, Mandela’s age when he was freed, he remained undeterred in his determination to end the system of apartheid. “I greet you all in the name of peace, democracy and freedom for all,” Mandela said in his speech to supporters.