FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Montreal — Each year on December 10, the world celebrates International Human Rights Day to mark the date on which the United Nations General Assembly ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1950. The Armenian National Committee of Canada, as a grass-roots human rights organization committed to upholding the ideals of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, joins with all Canadians in marking this important day.
ANCC has worked with our partners in the Canadian government and Parliament, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, friends from a wide variety of cultural communities and a diverse group of non-governmental organizations to ensure that the values of respect, tolerance and equality enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are upheld in Canada and throughout the world.
As a group whose members know the pain of genocide and have been subject to discrimination and denial of fundamental freedoms in various countries, ANCC is committed to ending human rights abuses throughout the world. This year, we are particularly concerned about the situation of minorities in Syria, where countless people have been targeted for violence based solely on their ethnicity or religion. We also stand with the minority peoples of Turkey who continue to be denied their full and equal place in Turkish society and with journalists and writers in Turkey who are imprisoned and prosecuted simply for speaking truth to power. Finally, we call attention to the brutal religiously and ethnically motivated conflict currently taking place in the Central African Republic which shows all the signs of becoming a genocide unless urgent action is taken by the international community.
ANCC urges all Canadians to remember the opening words of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights “Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world” and work together today and every day to improve our community, our country and our planet.
Armenian National Committee of Canada
The ANCC is the largest and the most influential Armenian-Canadian grassroots human rights organization. Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout Canada and affiliated organizations around the world, the ANCC actively advances the concerns of the Armenian-Canadian community on a broad range of issues.
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For further information:
Mr. R. Robert Kouyoumdjian
Tel.: (514) 265-4602
Email: [email protected]
