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 On Wednesday 10 December the United Nations commemorated the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) against the backdrop of continued widespread political repression and human rights abuses, in Zimbabwe, Sudan, Burma/Myanmar, Iraq, Afghanistan, in the Israeli-occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza, and elsewhere.
At the ceremony to mark the 60th anniversary of the UDHR, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: "We see human trafficking, the exploitation of children, and a host of other ills plaguing millions of people". Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, commented: "Despite all our efforts over the past 60 years, this anniversary will pass many people by, and it is essential that we keep up the momentum, thereby enabling more and more people to stand up and claim their rights." While recognition was given to the important role the UN has played in furthering human rights concerns over the past decades, criticism was also voiced, particularly of the Security Council members, whom Andrew Hudson, a senior associate with the Human Rights Defenders Programme at Human Rights First, said "have frequently failed to prevent or address gross violations of the UDHR." Rob Wheeler of the World Alliance for Transforming the UN said the United Nations also called attention to the UN's failure to implement several human rights-related articles of its own charter, concerning access to food and decent living standards. "We thus urge the United Nations to organise and hold a UN Charter Review Conference, under Article 109 of the Charter, in order to determine what can and must be done to ensure that the charter is upheld and that all people's most basic human rights are indeed provided and met," he said. Source:
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