Women's International League for Peace and Freedom Celebrates 60 Years of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Today, December 10, 2008 is the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by the United Nations General Assembly. The UDHR is a major achievement of the United Nations, setting a common human rights standard for all nations and peoples.

Six major UN Human Rights Treaties grew out of the UDHR. Download and distribute the WILPF flier about these treaties and the US government's position on each.

While the US government judges foreign governments' human rights practices annually, it is woefully out of step enacting and monitoring human rights within the country.

Join the committee on Advancing Human Rights/CEDAW and work locally with WILPF for human rights every day.

• WILPF endorses the American Constitution Society's "Human Rights at Home: A Domestic Policy Blueprint for the New Administration." (pdf) Read this important statement on how to breath life into human rights within the United States and organize support for its implementation within your community.
• Work with your own city and county governments to bring local policies into compliance with human rights treaties.
  • WILPF member Rose Daitsman organized the Greater Milwaukee Human Rights Coalition, which is working to re-establish the Milwaukee Equal Rights Commisssion
  • Portland, Oregon WILPF recently helped create a city Human Rights Commission
• Learn about US human rights violations since 9-11 from WILPF member Ann Fagan Ginger in this video from the Social Uplift Foundation.

December 10 is also Jane Addams Day.

WILPF founder Jane Addams received the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, 1931. Illinois honors her life's work with a state holiday, the only state or federal holiday honoring a woman. Continue Jane's legacy with a tax-deductible donation to the Jane Addams Peace Association, WILPF's 501c(3) sister organization.