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Human Rights Day

December 10, 2011 by · Comments Off on Human Rights Day 

Human Rights Day, Human rights went viral in 2011 as people around the world used social media such as Twitter to protest against dictatorships, the U.N. human rights chief said Friday.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said in a message on the eve of Human Rights Day that power shifted in the Arab world this year as ordinary men, women and even children used Facebook and other social media platforms to stand up to long-ruling dictators.

“Today, as in the past, editorial and financial factors — as well as access — determine whether or not protests, and repression of protests, are televised or reported in newspapers around the world,” Pillay said in a statement.

“But wherever it happens, you can now guarantee it will be tweeted on Twitter, posted on Facebook, broadcast on YouTube, and uploaded onto the Internet,” she said. “In sum, in 2011, human rights went viral.”

The U.N. is making broad use of social media to mark the 63rd anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on Saturday.

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