Film screening celebrates Human Rights Day
3 min read
The Eugene Human Rights Commission invites the community to celebrate International Human Rights Day with a private screening of the film Kumu Hina at the Eugene Public Library’s Bascom/Tykeson Room Saturday, Dec. 10 at 3:30 p.m.
Snacks will be provided and a facilitated question and answer session will follow the screening.
Kumu Hina is a feature documentary about the struggle to maintain Pacific Islander culture and values within the Westernized society of modern day Hawaiʻi. It is told through the lens of a Native Hawaiian who is both a proud and confident māhū, or transgender woman, and an honored and respected kumu, or teacher, cultural practitioner, and community leader.
Seating is limited so community members are encouraged to RSVP online prior to the event, or virtual attendance is available.
Human Rights Day is observed every year on December 10 — the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted, in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The UDHR is a milestone document, which proclaims the inalienable rights that everyone is entitled to as a human being – regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Available in more than 500 languages, it is the most translated document in the world.
Saturday also marks the start of a year-long campaign to promote and recognise the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on Dec. 10, 2023.
In the decades since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, human rights have become more recognised and more guaranteed across the globe. It has since served as the foundation for an expanding system of human rights protection that today focuses also on vulnerable groups such as persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and migrants.
However, the promise of the UDHR, of dignity and equality in rights, has been under a sustained assault in recent years. As the world faces challenges new and ongoing – pandemics, conflicts, exploding inequalities, morally bankrupt global financial system, racism, climate change – the values, and rights enshrined in the UDHR provide guideposts for our collective actions that do not leave anyone behind.
The year-long campaign seeks to shift the needle of understanding and action towards greater knowledge of the universality of the UDHR and the activism associated with it.
The UDHR enshrines the rights of all human beings. From the right to education to equal pay, UDHR established for the first time the indivisible and inalienable rights of all humanity.
As a “common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations”, the UDHR is a global blueprint for international, national, and local laws and policies and a bedrock of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. The 2030 Agenda for sustainable development explicitly recognizes it is grounded in UDHR and has to be implemented in a manner that realizes human rights.
The UDHR has inspired many struggles for stronger human rights protection and helped them to be more recognized. In the (nearly) 75 years since the proclamation of the UDHR, human rights have advanced. However, progress does not mean the fight for rights and equality ever ends.
Whenever and wherever humanity’s values are abandoned, we all are at greater risk. The solutions to today’s greatest crises are rooted in human rights. Rights violations reverberate across borders and across generations. These can be, must be, collectively overcome.
We need to stand up for our rights and those of others. The UDHR calls upon everybody to stand up for human rights. We all have a role to play.
We need an economy that invests in human rights and works for everyone. We need to renew the social contract between governments and their people and within societies, so as to rebuild trust and embrace a shared and comprehensive vision of human rights on the road to a just and sustainable development.
