HUMAN WRONGS WATCH

Spearheaded by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), this year’s observance – celebrated under the banner of Human Rights 365 – encompasses the idea that “every day is Human Rights Day” and that “each one of us, everywhere, at all times is entitled to the full range of human rights.”*

“On Human Rights Day we speak out,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon proclaimed in his message. “We declare that human rights are for all of us, all the time: whoever we are and wherever we are from; no matter our class, our opinions, our sexual orientation.”

“This has been a devastating year for millions of children,” said Anthony Lake, UNICEF Executive Director, in a press release issued by his organization.*

“Children have been killed while studying in the classroom and while sleeping in their beds; they have been orphaned, kidnapped, tortured, recruited, raped and even sold as slaves,” Lake said. “Never in recent memory have so many children been subjected to such unspeakable brutality.”

As many as 15 million children are caught up in violent conflicts in the Central African Republic, Iraq, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and in the Occupied Palestinian territories – including those displaced in their own countries or living as refugees outside their homeland, according to UNICEF.

And an estimated 230 million children live in countries and areas affected by armed conflicts, it said.