Knightly in human rights plea

British starlet Keira Knightley called today for the true meaning of “human rights” to be acknowledged on the 60th anniversary of the landmark United Nations declaration.

The star of 'Atonement' said the concept should be something to be proud of,

Knightley made the comments in support of Amnesty International’s ’Protect the Human’ campaign.

A picture of the actress holding a banner carrying the campaign group’s slogan was released today to coincide with the anniversary of the adoption of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

Proclaimed on December 10, 1948, the declaration set out for the first time in a single document the fundamental rights that should be enjoyed by all.

Knightley is one of a number of celebrities, including Minnie Driver and Erin O’Connor, who have made short films for Amnesty celebrating articles from the UDHR.

She said: “I wanted to be part of this film for Amnesty to help raise awareness of the UDHR and to help them, in a small way, to campaign against the abuses of human rights that are still happening every day.”

“The UDHR is something that every one should be aware of and be proud of as a statement of our common humanity.”