Human rights occasions
Eight human-rights observances marked in India, from Zero Discrimination Day to Human Rights Day, with dates and guidance on writing about them without trivialising them.
These are the hardest days in the calendar to write for, because the subject matter resists a greeting. There is no cheerful way to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women or the World Day Against Child Labour, and attempting one does damage.
Human Rights Day on 10 December marks the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. The World Day of Social Justice, Zero Discrimination Day, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, International Widows' Day and the International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM fill out the year.
What a message on these days can usefully do
Three things, and none of them is a greeting.
It can inform: one fact, one number, one law people do not know exists. India has specific legislation behind several of these days, and naming the act and what it entitles someone to is more useful than any slogan.
It can point somewhere: a helpline, an organisation, a report worth reading.
It can say where you stand, plainly, in your own words.
Do
- Name the specific right, law or protection, and where to find help.
- Credit the people doing the work rather than congratulating the world.
- Keep it short. On these days, restraint reads as seriousness.
Avoid
- Don't wish anyone a "happy" anything in this category.
- Don't use survivors' stories as content without their consent.
- Don't attach a discount, a product or a brand hashtag to a day about poverty or violence.
For days about relief work and volunteering rather than rights in law, see the humanitarian days.