eBook | The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights & Human Rights Day (10 December)

Download the English version of the illustrated booklet (PDF, 15, MB) | More options >>

“Many people – though not all – have been able to secure freedom from torture, unjustified imprisonment, summary execution, enforced disappearance, persecution and unjust discrimination, as well as fair access to education, economic opportunities, and adequate resources and health-care. They have obtained justice for wrongs, and national and international protection for their rights, through the strong architecture of the international human rights legal system.” – Introduction to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, p.vi

See also: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights turns 70 | Human Rights Commission (posts) | National Human Rights Commission: www.nhrc.nic.in (Government of India) >>

“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home — so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. […] Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.” — Eleanor Roosevelt

Learn more | UN Human-rights Day >>

“Human beings are as good a creator as a destroyer. According to scientific studies, this planet has entered the phase of sixth extinction where man-made destruction, if not stopped, will be the undoing of not only the human race but also the other lives on the earth. In this context, I would urge you not to treat the issue of human rights in isolation and pay equal attention to nursing Mother Nature which is deeply wounded by the indiscretions of human beings. In India, we believe that every particle of the universe is a manifestation of divinity. Let us rekindle our love for nature to conserve and enrich it before it is too late.” – Droupadi Murmu | Speeches by the 15th President of India (20 September 2023) >>

Source: ADDRESS BY THE HON’BLE PRESIDENT OF INDIA, SMT DROUPADI MURMU ON THE OCCASION OF INAUGURATION OF 28TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AND BIENNIAL CONFERENCE OF ASIA PACIFIC FORUM OF NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTIONS
URL: https://www.presidentofindia.gov.in/speeches/address-honble-president-india-smt-droupadi-murmu-occasion-inauguration-28th-annual
Date Visited:24 September 2023

“The issue is not whether the world’s economy is governable toward ambitious goals like promoting social justice, equality between countries and greater democratic control for the bulk of the world’s people, but whether it is governable at all.” – Mogobe B. Ramose quoting Globalization in question by Hirst, P. and Thompson, G in “Globalization and ubuntu” (The African Philosophy Reader), pp. 732 | Globalization >>

**Learn more**: Bondage | Bonded labour | Caste | Childhood
Human trafficking | Violence against women
Slavery | Zamindari
Human trafficking is a crime. To report in India, contact
Shakti Vahini https://shaktivahini.org/contact-us >> shaktivahini@gmail.com
+91-9899710847 +91-9582909025
and/or **Childline 1098** (national helpline)
National Programme for Child Labour Free India | PDF-Repository (70 KB)

“As per a study on human trafficking, the state of Jharkhand has emerged as India’s trafficking hub with thousands of tribal women and girls being trafficked out of the state each year to Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and beyond [while] human traffickers are also involved in many cases of missing children.” – The Wire | Shakti Vahini | Tourism locations | Adivasi tribal bondage slavery trafficking (Safe search) >>

“Childline 1098 is a 24×7 emergency, free phone outreach for children in distress. It is one of the world’s biggest emergency helpline services dedicated to children, and is considered to be among the country’s largest emergency response systems” – The Hindu, 17 April 2022 >>

Logo © www.nhrc.nic.in | Annual Report – 2014-2015 >>
Universal Declaration of Human Rights & Human Rights Day >>

The National Human Right Commission (NHRC) describes “crimes like rape, molestation, torture, fake encounter in police custody as manifestations of a systemic failure to protect human rights”;

It reports that “rights of the people were violated or negligence was shown by a public servant in the prevention of such violations”; NHRC concludes:

“Atrocities against vulnerable sections of society – women, children, disabled and the elderly – are often compounded when they belong to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes”; and therefore demands:

India must ratify the International Convention against Torture.

The Anti-Autocracy Handbook – A Scholars’ Guide to Navigating Democratic Backsliding
Download | Backup (PDF, 500 KB) >>

“A call to action, resilience, and collective defence of democracy, truth, and academic freedom”

The Anti-Autocracy Handbook is a call to action, resilience, and collective defence of democracy, truth, and academic freedom in the face of mounting authoritarianism. […]

Because open inquiry and dissent are central to science and academia—qualities antithetical to authoritarian control—academia is often among the first targets of autocrats. To help scholars resist authoritarian developments, the handbook highlights both historic and contemporary measures aimed at attacking scholars, their institutional environments, and their scholarship.

The handbook also sets out a framework for action based on personal risk level—low, medium, high, or extreme. This is designed to help scholars think about their own risk and purposefully choose actions in line with it. The handbook considers tools for enhancing digital safety and highlights the importance of ongoing documentation, preserving imperilled data, and creating distributed archives as a defence against erasure. It also calls on scholars to tell their stories—publicly or anonymously—to inspire others, maintain accountability and preserve a historical record.

Accompanying the handbook is a living wiki that will continue to incorporate new developments and provide updates on global efforts by scholars to push back against authoritarianism and safeguard the democratic foundations that enable free inquiry.

Source: “The Anti-Autocracy Handbook: A Scholars’ Guide to Navigating Democratic Backsliding” by
URL: https://zenodo.org/records/15696097
Date Visited: 20 April 2026

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