Today is the 63rd anniversary of the adoption of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), commonly celebrated as Human Rights Day all over the world. On this occasion, we remember and pay tribute to all human rights defenders – from Tibet to Tunisia – who symbolizes, in word and deed, the universality of fundamental rights and freedoms enshrined in the UDHR.
The year 2011 witnessed unprecedented scale and influence of grassroots resistance movements against repressive dictatorial regimes. Ordinary people, like the Tunisian vegetable seller and a 21-yr-old Tibetan monk, asserted their rights in protest. The Tibetan monk, Phuntsog, died after self-immolation as Beijing, testifying to its egregious human rights record, reacted with force and violence that have caused 12 immolations this year in Tibet.