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10 December: what is celebrated today
10 December is a date that puts dignity — of people and living beings — at the centre. Two days of deep ethical and universal significance are commemorated: Human Rights Day and International Animal Rights Day. Two complementary perspectives that remind us that freedom, justice and respect cannot have species boundaries.
Human Rights Day
Every 10 December, the world celebrates Human Rights Day, in memory of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, approved by the UN in 1948 after the horrors of the Second World War. Since 1950, this date has been an annual reminder that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
The most recent slogan, ‘Our rights, our future, right now!’, underlines that equality, justice and sustainability are not distant ideals, but urgent needs. The Declaration — translated into more than 500 languages — remains the most universal document in history: thirty articles that defend life, freedom, education, work and non-discrimination.
There are names in the history of this text that must not be forgotten, such as Eleanor Roosevelt, chair of the drafting committee, and Hansa Mehta, who changed the phrase ‘all men are born free and equal’ forever to ‘all human beings…’. It was a gesture that opened the way to gender equality in international language.
Today, 75 years later, human rights remain a task under construction. Defending them is not only the duty of governments and courts, but of every citizen who raises their voice in the face of injustice. Because silence, when rights are violated, is also a form of violence.
International Animal Rights Day
Coinciding with this date, International Animal Rights Day has also been celebrated since 1997, promoted by animal welfare organisations around the world. The choice of the same day was no accident: it seeks to extend the principle of dignity beyond human beings.
Inspired by the Universal Declaration of Animal Rights proclaimed in 1978, this observance defends four fundamental pillars: the right to life, to freedom, not to suffer and not to be treated as property.
Every year, events, marches and silent performances are organised in various cities to denounce abuse, industrial exploitation, hunting and abandonment. As Mahatma Gandhi said, ‘the greatness of a nation can be measured by the way it treats its animals’.
The UN has begun to include animal welfare within the Sustainable Development Goals, recognising that protecting fauna is also key to human and planetary survival.
Respect for animals is not a fad: it is the natural extension of empathy, one more step towards a truly compassionate civilisation.