The international community, led by the United Nations, can continue to improve the lives of people with Down syndrome by addressing stereotypes and misconceptions.

This year’s global campaign on the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation focuses on the voices, stories and initiatives of survivors in leading the #EndFGM movement.

Today, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights continues to have remarkable influence, not least as the point of origin for our ample collection of human rights treaties, laws, instruments and mechanisms.

A cantata entitled “Everyone, Everywhere” weaves passages from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights together with the words of human rights luminaries such as Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Nobel Literature Laureate Wole Soyinka delivered an address in 1993 to the World Conference on Human Rights as a ‘special guest’ of the UN Secretary-General.

Writer, lecturer, political activist, and feminist organizer Gloria Steinem denounces violence against women in a speech at UN Headquarters.

Utilizing material from the UN Audiovisual Library, this production showcases a major force in the feminist movement taking her message to the global stage.

Hollywood actress Audrey Hepburn was a tireless advocate for children’s rights.

Soon after becoming a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 1988, she went on a mission to Ethiopia, where years of drought and civil strife had caused terrible famine. After visiting UNICEF emergency operations, Audrey talked about the projects to media in the United States, Canada and Europe over several weeks, giving as many as 15 interviews a day.

We call on everyone to transcend the anguish and horrors wrought upon civilians by the current conflict in Gaza and reaffirm our collective commitment to the Charter of the United Nations and to international law.

Genocides do not start with bullets or machetes, they begin with hate speech. 

Direct violence against marginalized religious or belief communities often goes hand in hand with, and is facilitated by, legally mandated discrimination at the national level and/or unchecked and widespread prejudicial and discriminatory attitudes.