Human Rights

A new web concept for human rights
An attractive, modern looking and interactive online site addressed to young people, together with a media campaign as well as official and art and music events, were organized by the OHCHR Office in Guatemala to celebrate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 60th Anniversary.

OHCHR Guatemala also produced street posters and radio and TV spots to support an expectation-building campaign for a successful website launching. The whole process was supported by school visits and appearances in teen television programmes and concerts. Other events, such as “Arts for human rights,” which included a women’s music group performance and a theatre play, and a rock concert by Chilean group Kudai, and local bands Viento en Contra and El Clubo, were held in Guatemala’s capital on 10 December.

An official event was held in downtown Plaza Barrios to honour Doctor Carlos García Bauer, a former Guatemalan representative to the United Nations who participated in the drafting of the Declaration. “We are all entitled to the human rights enshrined in the Declaration regardless of the place we live, the money we have, the faith we profess or our political opinions,” said Anders Kompass, OHCHR representative in Guatemala at the event.

The new site Declárate (“declare yourself”) brings together a radical design approach, with eye-catching navigation and posting of UDHR contents, interactivity options, free downloads (wallpapers, screensavers, e-cards and gift images), plus big potential for change and growth.

The web concept was developed for OHCHR-Guatemala with the assistance of Studio C, a Guatemalan design and new media production company with a background in world famous film productions.

Three basic concepts underpinned the new campaign approach youth, which invited youth to ask themselves which rights can help ensure respect for life, peace and liberty.

“We developed www.declarate.org, an interactive site supported by a YouTube channel and a Facebook page, to help young people check the UDHR and share their thoughts”, said the team leader and OHCHR Information Officer Estela Morales.