Human Rights Day 2014
10/12/14
Human Rights Day 2014 encompassed the idea that every day is Human Rights Day
Human Rights Day 2014
Wednesday the 10th of December was International Human Rights Day. This year’s theme, Human Rights 365, encompasses the idea that every day is Human Rights Day. It celebrates the fundamental proposition in the Universal Declaration that each one of us, everywhere, at all times is entitled to the full range of human rights, that human rights belong equally to each of us and bind us together as a global community with the same ideals and values.
This years theme, Human Rights 365, encompasses the idea that every day is Human Rights Day.
Ireland’s Policy for International Development, One World, One Future (OWOF), reaffirms the centrality of human rights to Ireland’s aid programme. It commits to ensuring that human rights principles and standards are promoted, protected and integrated in all of our development efforts.. Our support for human rights is advanced through strong collaboration across the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, including its Human Rights Unit, and with other Departments.
In our partner countries we support the strengthening of partner countries’ institutions, parliaments, and independent media, and promote access to justice, including through partnerships with the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission to build the capacity of national human rights institutions. We work with partner governments to improve and expand essential services to assist the most vulnerable in realising their rights to education and health.
Ireland engages actively in UN mechanisms and supports the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), to work in a meaningful way to promote and protect human rights worldwide. We support the participation and representation of the most marginalised in the UN human rights system, in particular within the Universal Periodic Review mechanism.
We advocate for the protection of human rights defenders and we support an enabling environment for civil society, including through Ireland’s work on the UN Human Rights Council, and our partnership with civil society organisations. Partners include Frontline Defenders and the International Federation for Human Rights supporting human rights defenders, UPR Info, which is supporting civil society engagement in the Universal Periodic Review, and organisations such as the Christian Blind Mission, building capacity of local partners to secure access to services and rights for persons with disabilities.
Ending gender-based violence, one of the most pervasive but least recognised abuses of human rights, is a central part of our work. We also assist individuals whose human rights have been severely violated as a result of torture, with the aim of rebuilding their lives and restoring their dignity, through the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture.
Through our aid programme, we promote and assist poor and marginalised citizens to realise and protect their rights and to actively participate in the development of their societies. The enjoyment of all human rights, civil, cultural, economic, political and social, is essential for development.