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launched. The publication, produced by the Government of Italy with UNRIC support, will be
distributed to more than 10,000 educational institutions. Together with journalists, government
officials and NGOs, UNRIC participated in a panel organized by the German Institute for
Human Rights.
83. To mark UDHR 60, UNRIC started a public information campaign entitled “Know your
rights 2008”, in cooperation with UNIS Geneva and UNIS Vienna. Central to the campaign is a
website (www.KnowYourRights2008.org) launched simultaneously in several European capitals
on 10 December 2007. The website is a marketplace of ideas, projects and initiatives in text,
audio and video formats that can be uploaded and downloaded so that people across Europe can
post their projects and see what others are doing to mark the sixtieth anniversary. The aim of the
campaign is to make human rights and, in particular, the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration
accessible to the general public in an interactive and participatory manner. The website is
sponsored by France, Italy and Switzerland; other European countries are expected to join this
initiative soon.
84. UNIS Vienna participated in a human rights symposium co-organized by the
United Nations Association of Austria and the Centre for Legal Studies, which was
held at the Austrian Parliament. The symposium attracted around 200 participants, including
Members of Parliament, members of the diplomatic corps, and NGO/CSO representatives. The
event launched the year-long celebrations to mark UDHR 60 in 2008, as well as the
fifteenth anniversary of the World Conference on Human Rights, held at Vienna in 1993.
UNIS Vienna also issued a press release and created a “human rights corner” on its website
which features information, relevant links and materials.
85. A wide-range of activities were carried out by UNICs: UNIC Prague co-hosted a workshop
on human rights in the twenty-first century in cooperation with the Czech Helsinki Committee.
UNIC Bucharest, in partnership with Cotidianul daily newspaper, launched a cartoon exhibition
on human rights, with works produced by Devis Grebu, an illustrator for leading international
newspapers. UNIC Moscow hosted a briefing by the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s
Human Rights Department dedicated to the recently adopted “Framework for cooperation
between OHCHR and the Russian Federation for 2007 and beyond”. In Argentina, a day of
workshops on human rights education was organized by UNIC Buenos Aires, with resources and
ideas for the 2008 academic year offered to educators.
3. Publications
86. Articles on human rights have been written or adapted for UNRIC’s monthly magazine and
also placed on its 13-language website for Western Europe, which also contains a variety of
human rights-related information materials. UNRIC produced and updated backgrounders on
topics including genocide and the Human Rights Council.
87. A range of information products, such as regular newsletters, TV and radio productions,
press kit materials and websites, often produced by UNICs in local languages, also serve as
vehicles for raising awareness of human rights issues within their regions. Specific examples
from the range of materials produced during this reporting period include: production of a
resource CD on the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade
(UNIC Port of Spain), adapting information materials of the press kit prepared by Headquarters
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