A/HRC/7/38 page 13 V. SIXTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS 50. A year-long United Nations system-wide human rights advocacy campaign, launched on Human Rights Day 2007, is the focus of OHCHR efforts to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. OHCHR spearheaded a strategy to mark the historic milestone, resulting in the Secretary-General’s initiative on the anniversary advocacy campaign by all of the United Nations family leading up to the anniversary date on 10 December 2008. 51. The anniversary year will see the United Nations and its partners advocate specific areas of human rights that are most pertinent to their work under the overarching message “Dignity and justice for all of us”. The overarching theme and messages OHCHR has developed for the anniversary reinforce the vision of the Declaration as a universal commitment to dignity and justice. Non-discrimination, equality, fairness and universality are core to the values enshrined in the Declaration, which was drafted and adopted by representatives of all regions and legal traditions. 52. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is an enduring and vibrant document. It has inspired more than 80 international human rights treaties and declarations, a great number of regional human rights conventions, domestic human rights bills and constitutional provisions, which together constitute a comprehensive legally binding system for the promotion and protection of human rights. 53. The objectives of the campaign are threefold. The first is to empower people all over the world to promote and realize their rights through raising public human rights awareness, promoting national ownership and wider participation in the anniversary celebration at the international, regional and country levels. The second objective is to establish and promote the vision of the High Commissioner of human rights in the context of the anniversary and beyond as a universal value and a core purpose of the United Nations. The third objective is to highlight United Nations-wide achievements in mainstreaming human rights and to advocate further system-wide coherence on human rights under the current reform focus. 54. The above objectives must be viewed within the bigger picture of ongoing United Nations reform endeavours. Human rights mainstreaming has been central to United Nations reform efforts since 1997, and important progress has been made in many agencies and areas of work across the system. This is particularly important in the light of the current emphasis on system-wide coherence, which would require strengthened linkages between the normative work of the United Nations and its operational activities at the country level. 55. National ownership and local participation are central to the campaign. I have called on all national actors, Governments, civil society and human rights institutions to take every opportunity during the year-long commemoration campaign to reaffirm their commitment to the values and principles of the Declaration. To facilitate the participation of a wide range of local and international partners, the Communications Section of OHCHR has issued a monthly newsletter entitled Info60, distributed since September 2007.

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