Sunday 10 December marked the annual and global commemoration of Human Rights Day. Human Rights Day is observed every year on 10 December, and commemorates the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly on that date in 1948. Human Rights Day was formally established by General Assembly Resolution 423 (V) which, as passed in 1950, invites all States and interested organizations to mark the 10 December of each year as Human Rights Day.

The focus of this year’s commemoration was on the freedom from want and poverty, a topic of particular relevance to UNPO Members. The vicious cycle that binds poverty and other human rights violations makes this issue one of particular concern to groups and populations who are especially vulnerable to poverty because of discrimination or other forms of social exclusion. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights notes that; “poverty is a cause and a product of human rights violations.  It is this double edge that makes poverty probably the gravest human rights challenge in the world“. Those whose basic rights are denied as a result of discrimination or marginalisation are especially vulnerable and prone to poverty, for example as a result of exclusion from land or employment. As however poverty adversely affects the satisfaction of other basic human rights, such as the right to education and healthcare, this effect is compounded as these individuals in turn become vulnerable to further violations of their rights.

Breaking this vicious cycle by drawing attention to the integral link between Human Rights and poverty reduction was therefore a central feature of Human Rights Day 2006. This entailed a special focus on minorities, indigenous populations, as well as other groups prone to discrimination, much welcomed by UNPO. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights underlined this focus by stating that; “many ingredients go into making poverty, but factors like discrimination, unequal access to resources, and social and cultural stigmatization have always characterized it. These “factors” have another name:  the denial of human rights and human dignity.”

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the High Commissioner herself, play a leading role in orchestrating and organising the events that mark Human Rights Day. As part of this leading role, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, issued a statement outlining what she hopes will be taken from the commemorations of 2006:

The following is the message of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour on the occasion of Human Rights Day, 10 December 2006:

The awareness of the stranglehold of poverty on billions of men, women and children around the world, and of how this state of deprivation and misery compromises our common future, has never been higher. Yet, despite an increasingly sophisticated understanding of the complex makeup of poverty, ranging from exclusion and discrimination to a skewed international trade system, approaches to poverty reduction are still often tinged with appeals to charity or altruism.

On this Human Rights Day, we reaffirm that freedom from want is a right, not merely a matter of compassion. Fighting poverty is a duty that binds those who govern as surely as their obligation to ensure that all people are able to speak freely, choose their leaders and worship as their conscience guides them.

All countries, independent of national wealth, can take immediate measures to fight poverty based on human rights. Ending discrimination, for example, will in many cases remove barriers to decent work and give women and minorities access to essential services. Better distribution of collective resources and good governance, exemplified by tackling corruption and ensuring the rule of law, are within the reach of every state.

But as much as States bear the primary responsibility for their own development, the international community must also meet the commitments it has made to support the efforts of developing countries. Many rich countries have yet to meet development assistance targets they have accepted, yet they continue to spend ten times more on military budgets. They also spend nearly four times their development assistance budget – an amount almost equal to the total gross national product of African countries –to subsidize their own domestic agricultural producers. Indifference and a narrow calculus of national interests by wealthy countries hamper human rights and development just as damagingly as discrimination at the local level.

At the 2005 World Summit, global leaders recognized that development, peace and security and human rights are mutually reinforcing. In a world where one in every seven people continues to live in chronic hunger, and where inequalities between and within countries are growing, our ability to reach the goals the Summit reaffirmed in order to 'make poverty history' will remain in serious doubt if we do not tackle poverty as a matter of justice and human rights.

[Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights]