More than 60 Atlanta Groups Come Together to Commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Human Rights Day celebration event will be at 6:00 p.m. at the Auburn Avenue Research Library

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Atlanta – The Human Rights Atlanta coalition today celebrates the launch of an Atlanta-based human rights campaign on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The UDHR is a set of fundamental rights and protections that are to be enjoyed by all persons throughout the world by the virtue of their humanity.

Human Rights Atlanta, which is a broad coalition of human rights groups and advocates, wishes to highlight the obligations of U.S. and state and local governments under the UDHR and international human rights law, noting that the United States was a leading force in the creation of the UDHR.

“It is high time that the U.S. government and the Georgia state and local governments recommit to the principles and ideals of the UDHR in ensuring dignity and justice for all,” said Azadeh Shahshahani, National Security/Immigrants’ Rights Project Director of the ACLU of Georgia.

The coalition has presented dozens of events honoring the ongoing struggles for social justice, racial and gender equality, peace, and the full enjoyment of human rights by all. The human rights campaign launched by Human Rights Atlanta will continue past December 10th, highlighting local struggles.

“With such great promise for a new era in the U.S. for human rights, we are thrilled to join with Atlanta’s human rights community to celebrate the vision statement of our movement that remains relevant to those thirsting for dignity and justice sixty years later,” said Laura Moye, Deputy Director of the Amnesty International Southern Regional Office.

The Human Rights Atlanta coalition will host a celebratory event this evening on the occasion of Human Rights Day, featuring the Reverend C.T. Vivian as the keynote speaker.

“In celebrating UDHR 50 in 1998 and now UDHR 60, we’re carrying on a tradition of struggle for human rights that has a long history in Atlanta,” said Ian Fletcher, a member of the PH:ACTS people’s history collective. “From Dr. Du Bois and Dr. King to the black washerwomen who struck for their rights in 1881, the students who sat-in against Jim Crow segregation and defied the Klan in downtown streets in 1960, to the tens of thousands of immigrant workers who marched for dignity in 2006, our city has borne witness to a courageous tradition of struggle which will continue on.”