Celebrating Nelson Mandela’s Legacy in Denmark
Few people have left such a deep and positive mark on the world that they deserve to be celebrated and honored even long after they are gone. Nelson Mandela is one of them.
In recognition of his extraordinary achievements in the field of human rights, the United Nations (UN) has declared 18 July as Nelson Mandela International Day. On this occasion, the UN calls people from all over the world to take action and inspire change in their communities, just as Mandela did.
And Youth for Human Rights Denmark responded to the call by organizing a creative event in the heart of Copenhagen, and getting the community to exercise their freedom of expression through music, painting and other artistic ideas, all around the theme of human rights.
Volunteers also shared Youth for Human Rights International’s educational materials with the public to raise awareness about the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, from Article 1, “We Are All Born Free and Equal,” to Article 30, “No One Can Take Away Your Human Rights.”
To support the UN General Assembly’s December 2011 Resolution, which calls on member states to “implement human rights education and training, such as through its integration into school and training curricula,” Youth for Human Rights Denmark invited passersby to sign a petition to make human rights education a reality and move one step closer to one of Mandela’s dreams that he presented to the UN General Assembly on 21 September 1998:
“I will continue to entertain the hope that there has emerged a cadre of leaders in my own country and region, on my Continent and in the world, which will not allow that any should be denied their freedom as we were; that any should be turned into refugees as we were; that any should be condemned to go hungry as we were; that any should be stripped of their human dignity as we were.”