EU Celebrates Human Rights Day

The EU is a world leader in upholding human rights, in principle and in practice.

The theme for this year’s International Human Rights Day – Human Rights 365 – reflects the aspiration that everyone, everywhere, at all times, is entitled to the full range of human rights.

In a declaration on behalf of the European Union, High Representative Federica Mogherini said, “The EU is committed to upholding these rights. Two years ago we adopted the Strategic Framework on Human Rights and Democracy, together with its Action Plan, and we appointed an EU Special Representative (EUSR) for Human Rights. Since then, with the support of EU Member States, we have been advocating human rights in over 40 human rights dialogues with third countries and we have been engaging with regional and multilateral organizations, including the UN.”

EUSR Stavros Lambrinidis has closely and proactively interacted with key partners and supported the role of civil society organizations throughout the world. EU delegations have been monitoring, reporting, and acting on human rights issues, sometimes under very difficult circumstances.

Human Rights Day is a great opportunity not only to promote the values enshrined in the Declaration but also to draw public attention to ongoing abuses of human rights.

Respect for human rights is one of the EU’s core values – along with democracy and the rule of law. The EU continues to ensure these principles are upheld in all its actions.

“We have achieved a lot but much remains to do. One such area of work is torture. The Convention against Torture was adopted by the UN 30 years ago today and yet torture is still widely practised around the world. This demands our urgent attention” Federica Mogherini added.

Human Rights Day is commemorated by the European Union in Brussels.