Edmund Rice Justice Bulletin

On 10 December every year, Human Rights Day commemorates the date on which the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, proclaiming its principles as the "common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations."

This year's slogan, 'Human Rights 365', encompasses the idea that every day is Human Rights Day. It celebrates the fundamental proposition in the Universal Declaration that each one of us, everywhere, at all times is entitled to the full range of human rights, that human rights belong equally to each of us and bind us together as a global community with the same ideals and values.

Overall, despite progress in some areas, 2014 has not been a good year for Human Rights. conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Ukraine, Nigeria to name a few, religious persecution - particularly of Christians, continues with a recent report compiled by the Aid to the Church in Need  stating that religious freedom in recent months had deteriorated in 55 of the 196 countries studied, and a continuing and growing concern about the situation of human rights defenders around the world.