MINELRES: HREA launches multilingual website on Human Rights Day 2003

[Felisa Tibbitts]

Dear MINELRES-L list members,

On December 10th, 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, after years of hard work by an
international committee headed by Eleanor Roosevelt. Every year on
December 10th, Human Rights Day marks the adoption of the Universal
Declaration, which has become a universal standard for defending and
promoting human rights. On Human Rights Day it is celebrated around the
globe that "All human beings are born with equal and inalienable rights
and fundamental freedoms."

Today we take note of human rights progress this year. Despite tragic
moments, including the death of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Sergio Vieira de Mello during the bombing of the UN Headquarters in Iraq,
2003 has brought some inspiring achievements. These include the
elimination of the death penalty in various countries of the former Soviet
Union and Turkey, and the inauguration of the International Criminal Court
in The Hague, the first permanent international criminal tribunal ever
established to bring to justice individuals for genocide, war crimes and
crimes against humanity. Other highlights of 2003 are the selection of a
female Iranian human rights defender, Shirin Ebadi, for the Nobel Peace
Prize and, in the USA, increasing recognition of the equal rights of gays
and lesbians.  Finally, the increasing availability of affordable medicine
for fighting AIDS in Africa and Asia, guarantees one of the most basic
human rights, the right to health.

Bertrand Ramcharan, Acting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in
a recent address: "In the end, I am convinced that the quest for justice
and human rights will win because young people the world over wish them to
win.  This is why it is so important to increase our efforts to provide
information and education about human rights to the young people of the
world."

Educators and community organizers interested to recognize Human Rights
Day in their classroom or community are invited to visit the HREA website
www.hrea.org to get ideas about how this inspiring day can be celebrated
with students. You are also kindly invited to share with other list
members events and activities that you will be carrying out on Human
Rights Day so that others can benefit from your efforts.

HREA is happy to announce that in commemoration of Human Rights Day our
website is now available in all official UN languages. You can now access
HREA's extensive education resources, human rights news and human rights
learning tools in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

We at HREA wish you continued success and growth as human rights activists, 
educators and learners.

With warmest wishes from the HREA staff,

Felisa Tibbitts
Executive Director