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Tomorrow, 10th December 2011, is Human Rights Day. The event is celebrated every year on 10th December - the birthday of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was created 63 years ago.
"Human rights belong to every one of us without exception. But unless we know them, unless we demand they be respected, and unless we defend our right - and the right of others - to exercise them, they will be just words in a decades-old document," said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, in a message to mark the day. "That is why, on Human Rights Day, we do more than celebrate the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 – we acknowledge its enduring relevance for our own times."
This year an unprecedented social media campaign has been built up around the Universal Declaration, as a means of celebrating the event. The "Celebrate Human Rights" social media campaign has engaged a rapidly expanding online audience since the first element was launched on 10th November.
“Never before have we seen such a vibrant discussion on human rights and the Universal Declaration,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay. “2011 has been an extraordinary year for human rights, especially in the Middle East and North Africa, but also in many other countries where people have mobilised, often with the help of social media, to demand their basic human rights. In 2011, human rights went viral.”