Toronto residents, organizations hold events to mark Human Rights Day

It’s been 74 years to the day since the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but the fight to ensure universal dignity continues to this day.

Residents in different parts of Toronto gathered on Saturday to mark Human Rights Day, which happens every Dec. 10.

On Danforth Avenue near Victoria Park Avenue, a small afternoon rally was held along the street.

“It is the duty for every human being to keep a check on fundamental human rights,” Mohammed Mominul Haque, the director of the Peace and Justice Alliance, urged while speaking into a megaphone.

He told CityNews he has been exiled from Bangladesh where he lived before because he spoke out against the government.

“The people of Bangladesh want (the) international community (to) raise voices, to stand for their rights, freedom, (a) fair vote and human rights,” Haque said.

While gathered on the street, he and others said they are trying to raise awareness about human rights issues as they call for solidarity.

“People of Toronto, as well as Canadian people, I know that they believe about freedom, they believe in democracy, they believe in human rights, so they need to raise (their) voice. They need to participate,” Haque said.

“Part of the global citizen… it is our duty to raise voices, to stand up for dignity, for freedom, for human rights, for democracy.”

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It’s the action of people like Haque and other advocates like him that the secretary-general of the United Nations said are needed right now.

“These trying times call for a reignition of our commitment to all human rights: civil, cultural, economic political and social,” António Guterres said in a statement posted to YouTube on Friday.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights sets out certain inalienable rights to ensure everyone has equal dignity, “regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion(s), national or social origin, property, birth or other status.”

Ahead of the 75th anniversary on Dec. 10, 2023, Guterres made this call.

“I urge Member states, civil society, the private sector and others to put human rights at the heart of efforts to reverse today’s damaging trends,” he said.

“Human rights are the foundation for human dignity and the cornerstone of peaceful, inclusive, fair, equal and prosperous societies.”

Near Mirvish Village Saturday afternoon, Amnesty International held its annual Write for Rights event. The concept started in Poland two decades ago and it was a 24-hour ‘write-a-thon’ for people to write letters to global leaders and those facing human rights abuses.

Marilyn McKay is an organizer who was involved in Canadian efforts back when it started in 2003 here. In that first year, she said they wrote 326 letters.

“These days we’re writing 30,000 to contribute to an international total of we’ve been close to six million before and last year it was 4.5 million, so it has really grown,” she told CityNews in an interview.

“It’s not just the number of letters being written and messages, but the number of people contributing to the event — which is great.”

McKay said the act of handwriting letters makes the appeals for action stand out.

“To have somebody sit down and write I am greeting you from Toronto on human rights day and I’m concerned about so and so because of this and this is what I’d like you to do, that’s pretty awesome,” she said.

When it comes to the current state of human rights, McKay said there’s still so much to be done.

“The world’s a mess. A lot of friends say to me aren’t things getting worse? And one possibility is that we’re better at uncovering some of the injustices that are happening,” she said.

“My hope, I’m an optimist, my hope is things aren’t getting worse.”

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Avreet Jagdev, a second-year University of Toronto student, said she’s been involved with Amnesty International for the past four years. Fighting for those jailed and even tortured for doing things like peacefully protesting is a passion for her.

“Write for Rights is always the most anticipated event in this exciting time of the year for human rights activists because today is human rights day and this is really just an opportunity for us to make a very big change in the lives of 10 people,” she said.

While she’s advocating for all of the 10 cases designated as in need of urgent global action, there’s one that stuck with her.

“Three women who were arrested and tortured for protesting in Zimbabwe,” Jagdev said.

“That’s very close to my heart because protesting is a human right, you should be able to speak up for what you believe in and fight what you believe in and here we’re able to do that quite easily compared to a lot of these places.”

When asked about the importance of the letter-writing campaign, she said she can understand if some might question its effectiveness.

“There is that sense of hopelessness that comes when you hear about these huge issues. These are just 10 cases, there are thousands, hundreds of thousands worldwide,” Jagdev said.

“I think the key is there are millions of us coming together to write these letters. This is a global movement, it’s an international movement, it’s the largest human rights action worldwide, so the power of words is multiplied by a million.”