'What future will we build on the stones of Gaza?': Human Rights Defenders join calls for ceasefire

It is time to choose what we believe in and I choose to believe in the promise of the UN Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and especially in the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders because HRDs are the people who breathe life into the UDHR, writes Mary Lawlor

Palestinians displaced by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip set up a tent camp in Rafah on Wednesday. As independent UN experts express their concern at the grave and growing risk of genocide against the Palestinian people by Israel in Gaza, Human Rights Defenders are standing firm. Photo: AP/Hatem Ali

It is December: the days are dark and the gloom of the international situation matches the gradual fading of the light. December 9 is the 25th anniversary of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and December 10 is the 75th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. 

Out of the ashes of war came the belief in a better way of living and being human. Now, here we are again—war and rumours of war. Last year, there were more armed conflicts than at any time since 1945.