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Niagara Falls shines blue for Human Rights Day. © Niagara Falls Illumination Board

(New York) – Human Rights Watch has arranged for 10 landmarks to shine bright blue on December 10, 2020 to celebrate Human Rights Day, Human Rights Watch announced today. These landmarks will illuminate in solidarity of the fundamental principles of human dignity that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms, and that Human Rights Watch works to defend each day.

“The situation is certainly challenging where the very values of human rights are under threat,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “Human Rights Watch is proud to play a central role in confronting many of humanity’s biggest challenges by investigating human rights abuses, exposing them to the public, and offering solutions and generating intense pressure for change.”

Countries across the world honor Human Rights Day each year to mark the adoption in 1948 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – a milestone document that proclaimed the inalienable rights to which everyone is inherently entitled without discrimination of any kind.

This year, the following landmarks will shine blue to mark the day:

  • 3D Toronto Sign, Toronto (Canada)
  • BC Place Stadium, Vancouver (Canada)
  • Calgary Tower, Calgary (Canada)
  • CN Tower, Toronto (Canada)
  • Empire State Building, New York (US)
  • Frankfurter Paulskirche, Frankfurt (Germany)
  • John Hancock Building, Chicago (US)
  • Montréal Park Tower, Montréal (Canada)
  • Niagara Falls, Niagara Falls (Canada)
  • Olympic Tower, Munich (Germany)
  • Vancouver Convention Centre, Vancouver (Canada)

Human Rights Watch investigates and reports on abuses happening in all corners of the world. We are roughly 500 people of 80-plus nationalities who are country experts, lawyers, journalists, and others who work to protect people most at risk, from vulnerable minorities and civilians in wartime, to refugees and children in need. We direct our advocacy toward governments, armed groups, and businesses, pushing them to change or enforce their laws, policies, and practices. To ensure our independence, we refuse government funding and corporate ties. We partner with organizations large and small across the globe to protect embattled activists and to help hold abusers to account and bring justice to victims.

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