On this anniversary of the adoption of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and following on Hope Lewis’ post below, I am pleased to convey the Human Rights Day message sent to us by IntLawGrrls member Rita Maran:

Dear Fellow-admirers of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
and of the UN that birthed it!

Here’s to HUMAN RIGHTS DAY – Hoorah! Hoorah! Hoorah!

There aren’t words to express our gratitude to
Eleanor Roosevelt,
Charles Malik,
René Cassin,
Peng-chun Chang,
and the other great humanitarians
in every corner of the world
who cooperated with the Roosevelt team,
and set us all to thinking
for the first time:

What are basic human rights?

Well, it’s the 66th Anniversary, and
we’re not finished working it out,
but
we are getting it right
more and more often.

Rita

(Credit for U.N. composite photo of members of the committee that drafted the Universal Declaration, named here from left. Top row: Dr. Charles Habib Malik of Lebanon, Rapporteur; Alexandre E. Bogomolov of the Soviet Union; and Dr. Peng-chun Chang of China, Vice Chair. Middle row: René Cassin of France; Eleanor Roosevelt of the United States, Chair; and Charles Dukes of the United Kingdom. Bottom row: William Hodgson of Australia; Hernán Santa Cruz of Chile; and John Peter Humphrey of Canada.)