What is Human Rights Day?

On Tuesday, December 10 our dome lights will be lit blue in support of Human Rights Day. For a full schedule of our dome lights for the month of December please see below.

After the end of World War II, the United Nations (UN) was formed to try and “promote peace for all countries.” At the first meeting, called the UN General Assembly, a document was drafted to outline what we now know as fundamental human rights.

Human rights governs that every human being has the right to equality, dignity, respect and freedom from discrimination from the day they were born.

On December 10, 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was created by a drafting committee consisting of representatives from eight countries, including a Professor of Law at McGill University, John Peters Humphrey, who represented Canada.

The Nobel Peace Prize and the UN Human Rights Prize are awarded on Human Rights Day, which was awarded last year to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed for efforts to resolve the border conflict with Eritrea, as well as his political reforms that have granted amnesty to political prisoners, discontinuation of media censorship and lifted the country’s state of emergency.

Did you know?

• The 2019 theme of Human Rights Day is Youth Standing Up for Human Rights.
• The UDHR has been translated into 500 languages.

December Dome Light Schedule

Date	Day/Event	Lights
December 1	World AIDS Day	Red
December 2	Growing Chefs	Green
December 3	Giving Tuesday	Red
December 4	World Wildlife Conservation Day	Green
December 6	National Day of Action and Remembrance on Violence Against Women	Red
December 10	Human Rights Day	Blue
December 11	Super Science Family Night	Cool Modulations
December 16 - January 5	Holiday Season/Winter Lab Program (Evenings)	Cool Modulations
December 16 - January 5	Holiday Season (Early Mornings)	Cool Modulations
December 24 - 25	Christmas Eve/Day (Evenings)	White with Blue Snow
December 31	New Year's Eve (Evening)	Fireworks

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