The “International Day for Human Rights” of the current year was different, compared to previous years, as the Arab Spring had already blossomed and its scents widely spread amongst people who are thirst for justice, freedom, equality, and human dignity. In this occasion, which marks the 63rd anniversary of the adoption of the International Declaration of Human Rights, GIHR would like to urge the new governments in the Arab region to accord human rights portfolios the utmost importance in their programs, plans, and work priorities, and to invite peoples, governments, and active partners within states which are passing through a transition period, to adopt mechanisms of transitional justice to ensure a peaceful transition towards a society which preserves the rights of all members without any seclusion or marginalization.

GIHR hopes that rule of law, accountability principles, and non-impunity for violations of serious violations of human rights and international human rights law will guide the future of the countries in the Arab region.

​

In the light of the incidence of serious or systematic human rights violations on peoples, as individuals or groups, such as arbitrary detentions, torture, enforced disappearance, displacement, and extrajudicial executions, undertaking effective investigations and securing effective remedy and reparation measures for victims and their families and society at large, are vital prerequisites during this phase for the sake of building a better future.

​

We salute, on this occasion, the peoples who took to the streets to exercise their rights to peaceful demonstration and to free thinking and expression; we express our appreciation to citizen journalists who mirrored change via their activity through modern media such as facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, who faced side by side with their professional counterparts, the same (sometimes more) death, detention, torture and defamation campaigns.

​

It is with pain that we remember thousands of victims who lost their lives for the sake of their countries; we express our heartfelt condolences to their families and friends, hoping that new and transitional governments will commit themselves to remain faithful to the blood and misery of their people and to the ideals and principles - which constitute the essence of the International Declaration of Human Rights - for which they took to the streets.