Human Rights Day is an annual event that’s observed in countries across the world on the 10th of December.
The day is intended to spread awareness and promote action towards maintaining human rights worldwide. The date was chosen in recognition of the United Nations General Assembly’s adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was the first global declaration of its kind.
The Declaration was officially adopted on the 10th of December 1948, and Human Rights Day was formally established on the same day in 1950.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a document outlining a total of thirty articles listing a variety of key civil, political, social, cultural and economic rights. These include:
• The right to life, to live your life, and to allow no one to take your life away.
• The right to free speech, to say what we would like to say to others and not be prevented from offering our opinions and views on important issues.
• The right to a fair trial, and to be considered innocent until proven guilty.
• The right to freedom of thought, religion and belief.
• The right to be treated fairly in society and not treated differently due to race, gender, beliefs, or religion.
• The right to an education.
• The right to freedom from slavery.
Football and Human Rights
With respect to FIFA competitions, the programme involves measures such as:
• Integrating human rights requirements into bidding processes for competitions and as a factor in the subsequent selection of the hosts.
• Developing event-specific human rights covering topics such as labour rights, anti-discrimination, press freedom and freedom of expression.
• Working with its member associations on the development and implementation of anti-discrimination action plans, as well as the promotion of disability football.
• Integrating human rights-related criteria for the provision of development funds to its member associations; and
• Embedding respect for the rights of players and other people involved in the game within the relevant regulations.
We all have a responsibility to work together to uphold the culture of human rights in our homes, workplaces, and within our football club.
