International Human Rights Day is observed globally every year on December 10. It commemorates the historic day in 1948 when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), establishing a universal standard for the rights and freedoms of all people.

The UDHR was proclaimed in Paris as a foundational document outlining inalienable rights—such as equality, life, liberty, and freedom of speech—to be universally protected. As noted by the United Nations, the declaration serves as a “common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations”