60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Human Rights Day is observed by the international community every year on 10 December. It commemorates the day in 1948 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

As part of the celebrations to mark the 60th Anniversary in 2008, a seminar on regional human rights courts is taking place at the European Court of Human Rights on 8 and 9 December . The seminar is organised by the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs.

This is the first time that the three regional human rights courts – the European Court of Human Rights, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights – are uniting for a joint event.
In addition, the Council of Europe is also organising and promoting debates in media of its member states in order to raise awareness about the human rights challenges Europe is facing.

10 December 2008: statements by Council of Europe leaders Statement by Miguel Ángel Moratinos (more...) Statement by Terry Davis (more ...)     Video message Lluís Maria de Puig : ''We must not allow an economic crisis to become a human rights catastrophe'' (more ...)     Video message [fr]     Video message [es] Statement by Jean-Paul Costa (more...) Yavuz Mildon: ''A strong local democracy is the best guarantee for the respect of human rights'' (more ...) Message from Thomas Hammarberg (more ...)     Video statement     Audio message - Interview     Audio message - Statement

Stories on human rights: screening On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Human Rights Declaration, renowned filmmakers and artists have portrayed 22 stories on themes related to human rights, which have been mounted in a long movie. The production of these short films was entrusted to the non-governmental organisation ART for The World. This artistic kaleidoscope has received the "Council of Europe Cultural Event" label, which is awarded annually to a limited number of exceptional, innovative artistic projects in Europe that put across strong messages relating to the values upheld by the Council of Europe. The screening of the films will form part of the celebrations of the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration at the Council of Europe. Council of Europe Cultural Events ART for The World

Council of Europe Publishing launches two publications on 10 December 2007 at the UN headquarters in Geneva State of human rights and democracy in Europe (2007) The texts contained in this publication show that despite undoubted progress, Europe is still afflicted by serious human rights violations, including enforced disappearances, extra-judicial executions, torture and secret detentions, as well as shortcomings in democratic processes. Human Rights in International Law - Collected texts (3rd edition) (2007) This book is a broad introduction to the wide-ranging subject of human rights, comprising international declarations, charters, conventions and protocols from the major international organisations working in the human rights field at world and regional level.