On December 10, 1948, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to recognize the inherent dignity and equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family around the world. Each year, on this day, the world celebrates Human Rights Day on the day the declaration was adopted. The declaration serves as a foundation for dignity, freedom, justice and peace.

As we approach the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 2023, the United Nations is launching a year-long campaign to showcase its legacy, relevance and activism.

The world faces new and ongoing challenges – from the pandemic to conflicts, significant inequalities and growing cost-of-living crisis for many while corporations make excess profit, climate change and the fight for climate justice and a healthy environment, to the continued attack on labour rights of workers organizing for better wages and jobs against poverty. The solutions to our greatest challenges are rooted in human rights.

We all have a vital role in protecting human rights through activism. As the 2022 Theme for Human Rights Day highlights: Dignity, Freedom, and Justice for All. #StandUp4HumanRights

Today, CUPE Saskatchewan reaffirms its commitment to stand in international solidarity with fellow workers and their unions for global justice that protects and advances human rights – including the fundamental right to join a union without fear and to collectively bargain, to bring an end to systemic and deep-rooted inequalities, and to organize and demand better for a more just economy against the growing crisis of affordability and poverty.

• Take Action for Human Rights today – Participate in Amnesty International’s Write for Rights.

• View the full illustrated version of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights here. 

• Learn more and educate others with CUPE’s resources on Indigenous, disability, 2SLGBTQI+, anti-racism and women’s issues.

 Did you know Articles 23 and 24 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides protection of Labour Rights?

 Article 23 states:

1. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
2. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
3. Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for (themselves) and (their) family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
4. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of (their) interests.

Article 24 states:

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Published by the Division Office /n.m. Cope 342