Every year on December 10, the world celebrates Human Rights Day, commemorating the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. It is a day born of promise and warning, but unfortunately, on its 77th anniversary, it falls against a dramatic backdrop: wars, repression, shrinking democratic spaces, forgotten humanitarian crises, and an increasingly fragile international protection system. Against this backdrop, the words spoken by the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, and the warnings from the United Nations and human rights organizations confirm that this is not simply a symbolic celebration, but a true test of collective conscience.

The Origins of the Universal Declaration: From the Trauma of War to the Promise of Dignity

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948, in Paris. For the first time, the international community enshrined in a common document the fundamental and inalienable rights of every human being, regardless of race, sex, religion, language, social origin, or political opinion. It was a direct response to the horrors of World War II: the Holocaust, the razed cities, the atomic bombs, the mass deportations and exterminations of civilians. The idea was clear and radical: to replace the "right of the strongest" with the primacy of human dignity.

Human Rights Day was formally established in 1950 with United Nations Resolution 423(V), which called on states and organizations to observe it appropriately. Since then, the Declaration has been translated into over 500 languages ​​and has become the cornerstone of systems protecting civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights worldwide. However, the gap between its declarations and today's reality appears ever-widening.

Mattarella: "Every person has inviolable rights."

In his message for the World Day, Sergio Mattarella recalled the deep roots of this international architecture. He recalled how, seventy-six years ago, the Declaration placed "at the center of the international order a simple and revolutionary principle: every person, as such, is entitled to inviolable rights." This message, conceived in light of the "moral and material ruins of global conflicts," continues to appeal to our collective conscience, he emphasized.

The President sought to link this commitment to Italy's history and Constitution, recalling that support for an international order based on human rights stems from values ​​enshrined in the Charter: the rejection of war, the promotion of justice, solidarity, equality, and freedom. These are the same values ​​that inspired the process of European integration, transforming the Union into an area of ​​peace and rights unprecedented in the continent's history.

Rights under attack: wars, regressions and inequalities

Mattarella did not hide the gravity of the current situation. "Human rights are under multiple attacks," he stated, evoking old and new wars that "return to cast their shadow on civilian populations," resulting in defenseless victims, suffering, and destruction. Violence against women and children, discrimination, and the erosion of democratic freedoms are described as a setback for legal civilization compared to goals once thought to be consolidated.

Racism, aggression, and inequality are resurfacing: phenomena that history had already identified as mistakes not to be repeated, yet they are once again emerging, often fueled by nationalist rhetoric and the demonization of those who are different. This is the backdrop to a crisis that is not only geopolitical, but also ethical and cultural.

The inseparable link between human rights and peace

A central tenet of the Head of State's message is the close relationship between human rights and peace. "Respect for the former is an essential premise for the latter," he recalled, while the absence of peace "dampens the hope of protecting rights and freedoms." Peace, therefore, is not an abstraction nor the result of a balance of power, but "the result of daily commitment and shared responsibility" grounded in protecting the dignity of every person and rejecting the logic of oppression.

Hence the emphasis on the role of international law and multilateral institutions, considered concrete instruments of protection for both states and individuals. Weakening these pillars exposes, above all, the most vulnerable to the risk of a world governed by oppression and the abuse of force, where rules are replaced by the interests of the strongest.

The UN High Commissioner's warning: rights underfunded, anti-rights well-funded

On this same day, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, sounded an explicit alarm: human rights are "underfunded and under attack," while movements aiming to undermine them are increasingly organized and well-resourced. Türk emphasized how diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, designed to correct historical and structural injustices, are today often dismissed as unjust or excessive. At the same time, anti-rights and anti-gender equality movements operate in a coordinated and transnational manner, relying on enormous funding, estimated at nearly $1,2 billion mobilized between 2019 and 2023 by anti-rights groups in Europe alone.

Paradoxically, the resources of the Office of the High Commissioner and many human rights organizations are being cut. Türk openly spoke of "survival mode": approximately $90 million less than necessary, 300 job losses, cuts to essential functions, precisely at a time when demand for protection is growing. Fortunately, he added, there is also a strong wave of activism, especially among young people, taking to the streets against war, injustice, and climate inertia, calling on governments to listen to these mobilizations instead of repressing them.

Amnesty International: A global map of regression

Amnesty International's 2024-2025 Report, published in Italy in April 2025, offers a systematic snapshot of this decline. Examining the situation in 150 countries, the document highlights the creeping in of authoritarian practices, the intensifying repression of dissent, the disproportionate use of force, and the erosion of the rule of law.

The figures relating to freedom of expression are particularly alarming. In just one year, according to the report, 124 journalists and media workers were killed, and 121 states adopted or promoted laws restricting free speech. This strategy strikes at the heart of democratic control: muzzling those who document, report, and criticize obscures what is happening and allows violations to unfold far from the public eye.

Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan: Conflicts Overwhelming the Protection System

The crisis in the international human rights system is particularly evident in war zones. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has unleashed, since 2022, a campaign of attacks on civilian infrastructure, leaving millions of people frozen and in the dark, if not directly under bombs. Accusations of war crimes and systematic violations of humanitarian law continue, while the international community often appears incapable of enforcing its signed conventions.

In the Gaza Strip, following the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups against the Israeli civilian population on October 7, 2023, the military response of the Tel Aviv government has been described by many observers as an ongoing genocide. In the midst of this, a humanitarian catastrophe has emerged among the worst on the planet, with destroyed infrastructure, collapsing hospitals, entire communities displaced, and a population trapped in a prolonged siege.

Meanwhile, Sudan is experiencing the most serious humanitarian crisis currently unfolding: 12 million people forcibly displaced, tens of thousands dead, torture, rape, and mass atrocities. Yet this tragedy remains largely invisible in the international media, overshadowed by other geopolitical priorities. All these conflicts are also fueled by irresponsible arms sales, often in violation of bans and treaties, and by a conception of international relations in which military and political power prevails over the protection of human dignity.

The irreplaceable role of civil societies and "forgotten resistances"

If the institutional framework appears fragile, hope often comes from civil society. We cannot rely on the spontaneous "repentance" of authoritarian leaders: history teaches us that democratic transformations arise more from pressure from below than from second thoughts from above.

It is in the streets, in the courts, in networks of associations, and in grassroots organizations that daily resistance to authoritarianism is being built. The conference "Human and Civil Rights: Forgotten Resistances," taking place today in Turin, moves in this direction. The testimonies of Yoosef Lesani (Iran), Lorent Saleh (Venezuela), Zilan Diyar (Kurdistan), and Yulia Yukhno (Belarus) will shed light on struggles that rarely find space in Western public debate, yet represent the living heart of the battle for rights.

Sponsored by the Piedmont Regional Committee for Human and Civil Rights, the conference focuses on these underreported realities, recalling that there are between 56 and 59 active conflicts worldwide, the highest number since World War II. The choice to focus on "forgotten resistances" is an invitation to broaden our perspective beyond the most media-rich crises.

From this perspective, Piedmont represents a nearly unique case in Italy: it is the only region to have established, with a 2020 law, a Regional Committee for Human and Civil Rights, a consultative and participatory body that brings together 27 members, including activists and representatives of the communities in struggle.

For 2026, the Committee has identified as its guiding theme "dialogue as a fundamental tool for building peace through justice and the protection of human rights." This perspective seeks to reconcile the local and global dimensions, recognizing that the promotion of rights begins in the territories, communities, and institutions closest to people.

The Italian emergency: the "silent massacre" in prisons

Human Rights Day is, therefore, an opportunity to look beyond national borders. In Italy, the prison system is experiencing a structural crisis that many define as "humanitarian." Chronic overcrowding, with peaks exceeding 135 percent, severe health care deficiencies, insufficient staffing, and undignified living conditions: it is in this context that the so-called "silent massacre" of prison suicides is taking place.

In 2024 and 2025, the death toll will have reached dramatic levels. To highlight this reality, on December 10, 2025, at 11:30 a.m., a symbolic installation will be set up in Piazza Montecitorio: 72 silhouettes, one for each prisoner who has taken their own life since the beginning of the year.

Beyond the Ritual: Transforming Memory into Responsibility

Respecting human rights is a call to responsibility, addressed to states, supranational institutions, but also to every citizen. Preventing violence from prevailing over rules, affirming the universality of the principles that protect human dignity, and countering narratives that transform rights into privileges for a few are the necessary steps for the 1948 Declaration to move beyond a list of lofty ideals and truly become "a concrete code of conduct."

In a world plagued by war, authoritarianism, and inequality, December 10th cannot be just a date on the calendar, nor an empty ritual. It is the moment to measure, with clarity and courage, the distance between what the world vowed in 1948 and what is happening today.