Celebrate Human Rights Day

Around the world, Human Rights Day is celebrated each year on December 10th. This observance is an opportunity to reaffirm the importance of protecting fundamental freedoms for all persons. Here in Bermuda, the Human Rights Commission is charged with promoting an understanding of the fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals and the principles of equality. In particular the Human Rights Commission wants to honour the protections afforded under Bermuda’s own Human Rights Act, 1981.

The Executive Officer of the Human Rights Commission, Mrs. Lisa Reed said, “It is vital that we as a community respect human dignity and that we collectively celebrate Human Rights Day. It is our collective responsibility to commit to the promotion and protection of the fundamental rights whether in the workplace, at home, or in the community.”

This year the Human Rights Commission is ‘Reading to get it Right’. Through partnerships with the local libraries, bookstores and literary outlets in Bermuda, the HRC is highlighting literature that bring human rights and social justice to life, or even books that simply amplifies one or more of the protected grounds under the Human Rights Act. Members of the public, and Bermuda’s community of readers, are invited to go to their bookstores or libraries, and pick up one of the highlighted books, or even to select their own area of interest from one of the shelves.

Our hope is that through reading about Human Rights, or about one of the protected grounds under the Human Rights Act, that individual members of the community will be better equipped to ‘get it right’--and it starts with reading.

Over the past few months, the Human Rights Commission has partnered with the Bermuda National Gallery (BNG) to promote their Annual Student Art Competition, which will culminate with an awards ceremony for the participants, on Human Rights Day.  The BNG and the HRC have visited a number of schools throughout the island to spread the word about the competition and to invite students to creatively consider the universality of human rights and to express the Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in a work of art.

Ms. Dany Pen, Education & Communications Officer at the BNG shared, "The spirit of collaboration is an important value for the community, especially when we think of leaving a legacy to our children. The BNG partnership with The Human Rights Commission for the 2013 Annual Student Art Competition has been such a success! We hope that in all our efforts of outreaching to the schools, we have instilled the values of responsibility, accessibility, equality, and advocacy to students across the island. With those values in mind, we encouraged students to define what community means to them"

Ms. Lisa Howie, Director of the BNG added, "This new partnership with the Human Rights Commission for the Annual Student Art Competition is a most fitting one for the Bermuda National Gallery (BNG). This year's exhibition, Eyes on the World, was the source of inspiration for the competition; this photojournalism and film exhibition focused on social issues of injustice locally and globally. Students have been encouraged to consider social issues and human rights, and respond to the theme: Eyes on Bermuda, My Bermuda-My Community.  

She continued, “More broadly, the BNG is committed to participating in the island wide dialogue on improving lives, through the enriching experiences of learning with art while opening up liberal spaces for individual expression and thought. I believe that these intentions make the partnership with HRC one that will last longer than this year's Annual Student Art Competition."

An awards ceremony for the participants of the competition will be held on Tuesday 10 December from 4-5pm at the Bermuda National Gallery (BNG). It is a free event and the public are invited to come out to support the creativity of our youth.  

The student works will be on display during the 2013 BNG Annual Student Art Exhibition which will be open to the public from 2 – 21 December, 2013 at the Bermuda National Gallery. Admission is free. It is hoped that the visual messaging of the posters will inspire a dialogue on the universal theme of human rights.

In conclusion, the HRC is delighted by the outpouring of enthusiasm and commitment shown by individuals and organizations within the community, around the promotion of equality and specifically the celebration of Human Rights Day. In particular, the HRC is pleased to have the opportunity to partner with Dany Pen, at the Bermuda National Gallery, the Bermuda National Library, The Book Seller, The Bermuda Bookstore, Brown & Co., Orange Bay Company, school libraries, as well as library staff at the Department of Corrections. As always, the HRC endeavors to engage members of the community around the principles of human rights, which includes broadening the minds of our youth, and ensuring that persons in Bermuda are aware of their individual rights and freedoms.

For more information please contact 295-5859 or email [email protected]

Background on Human Rights Day:

Human Rights Day is a global observance that seeks to enlighten and to protect the rights of each person living in our world. Human Rights Day is observed by the international community every year on 10 December and honors the day on December 10, 1948 that the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the first global declaration of human rights.

Since the formal inception of Human Rights Day on December 4, 1950, the United Nations has worked to create an international standard for the protection and recognition of human rights to our daily lives. More than six decades old, Human Rights Day is celebrated and focuses on various human rights themes such global issues as poverty, torture and education. The day serves as a time for reflection, education and advocacy on issues that affect all human beings.