Protect Children’s Rights this Human Rights Day

"To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity. To impose on them a wretched life of hunger and deprivation is to dehumanise them.”

                                                                       ---- Nelson Mandela

Happy Human Rights Day!

December 10 is Human Rights Day. It is on this day; 63 years back the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Though the Human Rights Day was an outcome of the World War II, protecting human rights still remains to be one of the main focuses around the world. This is thanks to the non-profit organisations that have dedicated their time and work to expose different issues affecting humans and initiated actions to protect and support human rights all these years.

Human Rights Day 2015 is dedicated to the 50^th anniversary of the two main covenants on Human Rights- International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

While the 2014 theme of Human Rights Day - ‘Human Rights 365’ or celebration of ‘every day as Human Rights Day’ is still going on, the focus  this year will be spreading awareness about the four freedoms – freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear.  These freedoms form the basis for the International Bill of Human Rights.

This year, the United Nations is also conducting events to honour the memories of its two major advocates Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt. The four freedoms were first voiced by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941 and his wife Eleanor helped add these rights into documents.

In India, protecting rights of children has been taken up enthusiastically by a non-profit organization called The Akshaya Patra Foundation. Delivering nutritious mid-day meals since 2000, the organisation tries to protect children from poverty, hunger, malnutrition and illiteracy.

Starting the efforts with feeding 1,500 children 15 years ago, the non-profit organisation now feeds free mid-day meals to over 1.4 million children in 24 locations across 10 states.  However, the non-governmental organisation wants to reach 5 million children by 2020.

The menu is designed to include all the nutrients for children’s growth and also to suit the local palate. The organisation has custom designed meal distribution vehicles to keep the meals warm and fresh till they were delivered to the children.

These measures have helped improve school enrolment, class attendance and children’s performance. Studies have also shown that children were able to concentrate better in class after they started eating the Akshaya Patra meals.  This initiative has helped bring hope to over a million underserved children in India.

The work that Akshaya Patra has undertaken shows the ongoing efforts to secure children their basic rights in India. This Human Rights Day, let us stand together and fight the issues that Indian children are still facing.

On this occasion, support human rights; support our children’s rights. Serve a filling meal to children on this Human Rights Day and help them to reach their goal.