Every year, on December 10, the world celebrates Human Rights Day, the very day when, in 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

On the occasion of the anniversary of human rights, a symposium was held by the International Centre for Religious Liberty and Public Affairs (CILRAP) with the collaboration of the Adventist Salève Campus, the AIDLR (International Association for the Defence of Religious Liberty), and the OHCHR (UN High Commission for Human Rights). The symposium was titled, "What is the price for human rights?”

This year’s event was be dedicated to Jean Weidner, former student of Collonges-sur-Salève and World War II hero. Weidner created the Dutch-Paris network with several of his classmates. At the risk of their lives, these young people were outraged at the Nazis’ barbarity and saved over 1,000 lives.

Afterwards, the "Human Rights Concert," featuring the piano and violin, with works by Chopin and Rachmaninov, took place and was performed by Richard Kogima, soloist, as well as Damianos Serefidis, violinist (Human Rights Officer—OHCHR) and Michael Wiener, pianist (Human Rights Officer—OHCHR), in the aula magna of the Salève Adventist Campus.

More About The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on December 10, 1948 (General Assembly resolution 217 A) as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and nations. It sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected and has been translated into over 500 languages. The UDHR is widely recognized as having inspired and paved the way for the adoption of more than 70 human rights treaties, applied today on a permanent basis at global and regional levels (all containing references to it in their preambles). 

This article was written in collaboration with BIA.

The original article was published on the Inter-European Division website.