Human Rights Day 2020: What Is Its Significance In The Time Of Covid-19 Pandemic?

Human Rights Day 2020: “COVID19 has exacerbated inequalities, poverty, discrimination & other challenges. Human rights must be at the heart of the recovery efforts worldwide,” said the United Nations in its tweet on the occasion.

Human Rights Day 2020: International Human Rights Day is being marked across the world which is suffering the biggest threat to human lives, a pandemic. Keeping in mind the grim scenario across the countries, the theme for this year’s celebration is ‘Recover Better - Stand Up for Human Rights.’



The theme focuses on the recovery from the pandemic by ensuring the human rights are central to the recovery efforts.

“COVID19 has exacerbated inequalities, poverty, discrimination & other challenges. Human rights must be at the heart of the recovery efforts worldwide,” said the United Nations in its tweet on the occasion.

Human Rights and Covid-19:

This year’s theme centrally emphasizes on upholding and restoring the human rights in many places of world where the pandemic wreaked a havoc.

As per the United Nations, the global COVID-19 crisis has been fuelled by deepening poverty, rising inequalities, structural and entrenched discrimination and other gaps in human rights protection. Only measures to close these gaps and advance human rights can ensure we fully recover to a world that is better and more resilient, just and sustainable.

Human Rights Day is an opportunity to reaffirm the importance of human rights in re-building the world we want, with global solidarity, interconnectedness and shared humanity, it said.

Why is Human Rights Day Celebrated?

On December 10 in the year 1948, United Nations General Assembly's adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). UDHR was the first global enunciation of human rights and one of the first major achievements of the new United Nations.

The formal establishment of Human Rights Day occurred at the 317th Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on 4 December 1950, when the General Assembly declared resolution 423(V), inviting all member states and any other interested organizations to celebrate the day as they saw fit.

As per the UDHR,  human rights are unchallengeable rights to which are the human beings are entitled without any discrimination. The rights reject any sort of biasness of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Humans Rights Day was formally established on December 4, 1950.