The United Nations took to social media channels on Saturday (Dec. 10) to honor human rights defenders across the world and to promote further the protection of the rights of every individual, regardless of gender, race or nationality. Countries such as the United States and Canada, meanwhile, highlighted the plight of human rights activists who are imprisoned or otherwise under persecution for their efforts.
“The violence we have witnessed this year against people exercising their universal rights to free expression, assembly, and association reminds us of the distance that exists between the values inscribed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the realities for many people around the world,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.
Clinton has called on governments around the world to release all “prisoners of conscience” including 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo.
Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird, meanwhile, said: “Innocent people are continually persecuted for their sexual orientation, their political affiliation and their religious beliefs. Human rights defenders are punished and tortured for working to create a world where the rights of all people, including women and girls, are protected and enjoyed.”
The European Union, for its part, pressed for the elimination of barriers to people’s free use of social media and the Internet.
“Use of social media to promote human rights should not be restricted by governments. The EU has repeatedly and publicly condemned restrictions on freedom of expression and on access to the internet, as well as the arrest of bloggers, witnessed in many countries around the world,” EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement.
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