Campaign to the 60th Anniversary of UDHR is Launched in Ukraine: UN and Ombudsman of Ukraine Signed New Partnership

10 December, Kyiv. Ukraine - The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) turns 60 on 10 December 2008. Today, on Human Rights Day 2007, the United Nations together with partner-organizations all over the world launched the year-long advocacy campaign with slogan "Dignity and Justice for All of Us". To mark this important milestone, in Ukraine, the Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the UN system in Ukraine and the Ombudsman of Ukraine.

Taking into consideration, that providing support to the national human rights institutions is one of the United Nations priorities, the UN Resident Coordinator in Ukraine Mr. Francis O'Donnell on behalf of the UN Country Team in Ukraine signed a Memorundum of Understanding with the Ombudsman of Ukraine Mrs. Nina Karpacheva.

Addressing the participants, Mr. O'Donnell stated that the campaign to the 60^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the initiative of the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to continue to raise awareness of the Declaration and its relevance to people around the world. He said that this campaign will remind us the Declaration was the first global statement of what we now take for granted -- the inherent dignity and equality of all human beings. Mr. O'Donnell emphasized that there was an experience of cooperation with the Ombudsman of Ukraine, but for the first time we made another step to formalize our relations". «For the first time, we are raising specific issues and elaborate a specific plan of actions», he continued.  

In her statement Mrs. Karpachova said that from this date the cooperation between UN and Ombudsman become more systematic. According to her, the priority areas of cooperation are - ratification of Convention on the rights of people with disabilities and protecting rights of migrants and refugees, raising awrenness on the rights of HIV-positive people and orphans, and also put more efforts to prevent racism and xenophobia. «Moreover, we've agreed to exchange experience on best practices in human rights protection and promote historical importance of the Declaration and its principles in further development of the Ukrainian society.

The UDHR was adopted on 10 December 1948 with Resolution 217 А (III) of the UN General Assembly. The date has since served to mark Human Rights Day worldwide.  The Declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, consists of a preamble and 30 articles, setting out a broad range of fundamental human rights and freedoms to which all men and women, everywhere in the world, are entitled, without any distinction.

The Declaration was drafted by representatives of all regions and legal traditions.  It has over time been accepted as a contract between governments and their peoples.  Virtually all States have accepted it.  The Declaration has also served as the foundation for an expanding system of human rights protection that today focuses also on vulnerable groups such as disabled persons, indigenous peoples and migrant workers.

From the six UN official languages -Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish- spoken by billions of people, to Pipil, spoken by some 50 people in El Salvador and Honduras, the UDHR is the most translated document in the world - into 369 languages. More information: www.ohchr.org.

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