Human Rights Day 2019

Enabling us all to live with equal dignity and respect

Human Rights Day is observed every year on 10th December — the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted, in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR): a milestone document proclaiming the inalienable rights which everyone is inherently 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.

Whatever the outcome of the General Election, 2020 will be an important year for the UK.  Many decisions will be made about the sort of country we want to be, but we must ensure that our Human Rights Act remains an integral part not just of our constitutional arrangement, but also of people’s everyday lives, enabling us all to live with equal dignity and respect.

Ahead of Human Rights Day and the General Election, the British Institute of Human Rights drafted a letter to party leaders to commit to safeguarding universal human rights, which Sue Ryder Chief Executive, Heidi Travis, has signed in support:

Dear Party Leaders,

As we approach the 2019 General Election we ask you to join us in celebrating Human Rights Day by committing to protecting universal human rights in the UK.

Human rights, as universal standards shared across the globe, were laid down 71 years ago in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, inspiring law and positive action across the world. Our very own law, the Human Rights Act, draws on these universal rights, setting legal standards to protect people across the UK whether they are in hospitals or care homes, social services or places of detention, housing or schools. 

Whatever the outcome of Thursday's election, 2020 will be an important year for the UK. Many decisions will need to be made about what sort of country we want to be, going forward, and what relationship people have with those we place in power.

We ask you to stand firm on our hard-won freedoms. We ask you to stand firm on ensuring that our Human Rights Act remains an integral part not just of our constitutional arrangement, but also of people's everyday lives, enabling us all to live with equal dignity and respect. 

Yours sincerely, 

Heidi Travis

We are asking you to join us in celebrating Human Rights Day by committing to protecting universal human rights in the UK.

#StandUp4HumanRights

Sue Ryder has trained over 3000 staff across the UK to respect and enable people's personal preferences and choices at end of life, through our training programme: 'What matters to me: a human rights approach to end of life care'. Our experience from delivering the training means we understand the importance of human rights, as we only get one chance to get it right.

You can find out more about Sue Ryder's Human Rights and End of Life Care free training workshops here or download a practitioner's guide for human rights in end of life care, created in collaboration with the British Institute of Human Rights (BIHR).