Seminar to Mark the 75th Anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights
Monday, 11 December 2023, as on 15:30h

This year the world celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), a historic document drafted by representatives from all regions of the world that set out, for the first time, the fundamental human rights to be protected worldwide. Proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations, it has since been translated into over 500 languages.

At 75, the Charter stands strong, but faces a number of growing and emerging challenges to its legitimacy and efficacy. Growing geopolitical divisions, newly emerging technologies and the acceleration of climate change are but a few of these factors that make it more imperative than ever to ensure that global human rights do not backslide and that the international community recognizes and embraces the need for more, not less, action on this key issue.

The Delegation of the European Union to Japan, supported by United Nations Information Centre, Tokyo, will thus mark this milestone year with a seminar that will focus minds on the role the UDHR plays today, the role it needs to play tomorrow and on the need to find common ground on how the envelope can be pushed further. How should the international community respond? What are the flexibilities offered by the Declaration to manage these challenges, and how do the EU, Japan and other Member States see the future of the Declaration?

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