Human Rights Day 2009

Back to All Reports

ASIA: Crisis in Human Rights Protection in Asia — Bad Policing Systems as a Major Threat to Human Rights

On the 10th of December Human Rights Day is celebrated the world over. It reminds us of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, which symbolized the start of an era based on a respect for human dignity and on the obligations of states to protect human rights. But what kind of reminder is this day for people living in the Asian region? How many of them have seen improvements that would allow them to participate in such a celebration joyfully?

For the majority of people in Asia human rights remain a promise and a dream; they are not protected to the extent that they are thought worth celebrating. Instead on this day, once again, people will air their grievances louder; they will remember the many who have unnecessarily died because of violence, or because of neglect on the part of their government to provide them with economic, social and cultural development necessary to sustain them.

To read the statement by the UN High Commission for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Human Rights Day, please click here. Order this book here.