Mr. Speaker, 70 years ago today, the then 59 member states of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
John P. Humphrey, a Canadian jurist who had just become the director of the United Nations Secretariat Human Rights Council, was the lead author. This declaration, which was written in the wake of the two world wars, is one of the cornerstones of international legal order.
In its opening paragraphs, it affirms the inherent dignity and equal, inalienable rights of all members of the human family as the foundation of freedom, justice and piece.
In Canada, the declaration inspired the Bill of Rights and ultimately our Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Seventy years on we continue to stand together to defend the universal declaration, because humanity is at greater risk every time human rights are threatened anywhere around the world.
I invite all Canadians to join the conversation and share why human rights matter to us. The hashtags are UDHR70 and StandUp4HumanRights.