Human Rights Day is observed annually around the world on 10 December. It commemorates the anniversary of one of the world's most ground-breaking global pledges: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This landmark document enshrines the inalienable rights that everyone is entitled to as a human being, no matter who they are.
This year’s Human Rights Day theme focuses on how human rights are a pathway to solutions, playing a critical role as a preventative, protective and transformative force for good.
Catholics might like to follow the invitation from Pope Francis to build an “integral ecology” together, with a joint response to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor – and combat the common roots that feed these intertwining injustices.
“Integral ecology is not one path among many that the Church can choose for the future in this territory, it is the only possible path, because there is no other viable route for saving the region. The shedding of innocent blood and the criminalization of the defenders of the Amazon accompany the depredation of the territory.” The Amazon: New Paths for the Church and for an Integral Ecology, Final Document, 67 – 2019
