The Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) will host a symposium on Monday in celebration of International Human Rights Day and to commemorate the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Guyana.

And the United Nations Association (UNAG) hosts one today at the Critchlow labour College auditorium on ‘Human Rights and the Religious Environment’. Resident Coordinator of the United Nations system in Guyana Aboubacry Tall is expected to make the opening address, a UNAG press release said.

The GHRA symposium is set for City Hall from 4.30 pm to 6.30 pm and a number of leading Guyanese from different civic organizations and sectors will make brief presentations. According to a press release from the GHRA, the presentations focus on how one or more of the fundamental human rights considerations set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) has influenced your own field of work; the benefits enjoyed and opportunities lost to make human rights a reality in Guyana and emerging challenges to human rights in Guyana.

According to GHRA, this anniversary presents an opportunity for reflecting on the impact or lack thereof of several “big ideas” contained in the UDHR.

These include the recognition of equal rights and inalienable rights of all members of the human family in the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world and the highest aspiration of the ordinary people in a world in which freedom of speech and belief, freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed.

The declaration also states that the development of the friendly relations between nations is essential and that states have pledged themselves to the promotion of universal respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The GHRA said fully realizing this pledge requires the greatest importance be placed on a common understanding of these rights and freedoms.