Celebration Upcoming In West Hartford To Promote Human Rights

WEST HARTFORD, CT — A local commission dedicated to the preservation of basic human rights is hosting a special celebration Thursday to commemorate the cause.

Guests are asked to join the West Hartford Human Rights Commission on Thursday, Jan. 12, at 6 p.m. in the West Hartford Town Hall Auditorium, 50 S. Main St., West Hartford, for its annual celebration of human rights.

The commission said in an announcement that Dec. 10 is the actual anniversary of the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights."

"The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document in the history of human rights," wrote the local group.

West Hartford's human rights group said the concept of worldwide human rights dates back to 1948 in the United Nations General Assembly.

Those rights aim to set a "common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. It sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected and it has been translated into over 500 languages," according to the commission.

Those rights, for example, deal with issues such as economic, racial and gender diversity, the right to fair pay and a healthy standard of living, among other issues.

"The UDHR is widely recognized as having inspired, and paved the way for, the adoption of more than 70 human rights treaties, applied today on a permanent basis at global and regional level," wrote the commission.

The West Hartford Human Rights Commission is comprised of nine members serving three-year teams, meeting bi-monthly on the first Tuesday of the month.

It's mission statement is clear on the town's website.

"The West Hartford Human Rights Commission fosters mutual understanding and respect among people, and encourages equality of treatment of all people, regardless of race, color, religious creed, sex, sexual orientation, civil union status, gender identity or expression, marital status, familial status, genetic information, age, economic status, lawful source of income, national origin or ancestry, or present or past history of physical, mental, intellectual or learning disability including, but not limited to blindness."

For more information on the West Hartford Human Rights Commission, click on this link.

For more information on the West Hartford celebration, click on this link.

For more information on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, click on this link.