December 10th: World Human Rights Day

Translated by Martina Marino

In recent years, the history of the world has become intertwined with an unimaginable number of acts of violence, wars, and repression. In many countries, the rights of millions of people have been pushed aside, deemed superfluous, expendable. A moral fracture that reflects a deeply worrying contemporary moment and geopolitical outlook. And yet, 2025 has also been a year of struggle. Struggles for equality, for a fairer society, for respect, for justice. It was the year of spontaneous and organized street protests in countless cities across the world, giving a voice back to those who had lost theirs.

Yesterday, December 10th, we observed Human Rights Day – 24 hours dedicated to reflecting on what has happened and what can be done to improve the state of human rights worldwide. This observance dates back to 1950, established by UN Resolution 423 (V), two years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The UDHR, at the time, represented a revolution: after the tragedies of World War II and totalitarian regimes, it extended dignity and rights to every person. In the post-war context, placing human dignity at the center meant holding states accountable for not leaving anyone behind in the protection of rights, while also pushing them toward concrete measures to guarantee and uphold that dignity.

When we speak of human rights, we refer to all those rights that belong to every individual simply by virtue of being human. International law divides them into six categories – civil, political, social, economic, cultural, and collective – which are themselves grouped into three generations. The first generation includes civil and political rights, such as the right to self-determination, protection of life, prohibition of torture, ban on discrimination, and freedom of expression, religion, and association. The second generation encompasses social, economic, and cultural rights, such as the right to work, to strike, to safety, and to education. The third generation concerns collective rights, centered on solidarity among individuals, such as the right to peace.

In a world where these rights should form the foundation of coexistence, the multiplication and escalation of international conflicts has led to severe violations of international humanitarian law. Human rights organizations and international bodies have repeatedly denounced massacres and devastation across several regions of the world: from Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip, to Russia's bombings and killings of Ukrainian civilians, to the more than 11 million internally displaced people in Sudan, resulting from a devastating civil war.

Within this scenario, sexual and gender-based violence remains one of the most serious and widespread global emergencies. Global estimates indicate that about 1 in 3 women (730 million individuals) have experienced physical or sexual violence at least once in their lives. A phenomenon that is sharply rising, also due to abuse perpetrated through social media and digital technologies.

Exacerbating both physical and psychological violence is the decision – taken in many contexts – not to introduce educational programs within schools or community centers. This is not only about sexual or emotional education, but about cultivating peace, respect for diversity, solidarity, and responsibility. Depriving the new generations of essential tools to understand themselves and the world around them means undermining the very concept of education as the basis of progress.

Despite a worrying geopolitical landscape and a society that often seems unable to grasp global dynamics, the past year has been marked by powerful protest movements, civil rights campaigns, and demonstrations against discrimination. In South and East Asia, Generation Z – born between 1997 and 2012 – led protests against ruling elites and often repressive governments. Around the globe, millions of people demonstrated to demand an end to the violence in Gaza. In Italy, the peak came on September 22, 2025, when about half a million people gathered in 75 cities to demand civilian protection.

The 2024–2025 Amnesty International report captured a complex reality when assessing the developments of human rights on national, regional, and global levels. The tendency of certain current governments to commit grave human rights violations in armed conflicts is coupled with strong repression of dissent, along with economic and climate injustice. A situation that highlights the deep crisis international law is facing, as it is too often ignored when it conflicts with political interests of states.

Human Rights Day, in such a delicate international context, carries immense significance. It becomes a call for the global population to remember that human dignity is not negotiable. Because the right to live free and respected in our daily lives is not a privilege – it is the very foundation of what it means to be human.

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