3-24-2026 9:38pm

International Right to Truth Day

Matthew Lisa, Student

March 24th is International Right to the Truth day when we honor the victims of Human Right Violations. This became an international holiday on December 21st, 2010, but this national holiday is not known to the public. Human Right Violations involve people, politics, and the basic human rights. We are here to remember everyone who has had to deal with the violations. “The Declaration of Human Rights shows that we have the right to Life, An adequate standard for living, opinion and expression, education, protection against torture and slavery, to work while earning a fair wage, and to participate in government and free elections”.

According to the University of San Diego, there are some countries that do not have freedom of speech. For example in North Korea and Russia, journalists have faced severe punishments for challenging government actions. Some examples of these punishments are harassment, imprisonment or possibly even death.” Alexei Navalny, who was a Russian opposition leader and an activist who had repeatedly been imprisoned for criticizing Vladimir Putin, died while in a detention center back in 2024.

UC San Diego also goes on to explain that In Uganda, the “Anti Homosexuality Act criminalizes same sex relationships, with punishments including Life imprisonment and death.” This act is a violation of the right to life and expression.

Back in the 1900’s, people of color got judged, harassed and even killed. This is called systematic racism which is the persecution of marginalized groups and remains among the most prevalent human right violations as of today. Back in the day and as of right now, here in America and other countries with some of those countries being Finland, Austria, and Germany:being different from their perceived norm will lead you to face some of those punishments regardless of if that was your fault or not. Systematic racism is a primary Human Rights Violation.

According to the Human Rights Careers, there are multiple different categories of Human Right Violations, which include civil, political, economic, social and cultural violations. There are some main types of violations that can fall under these categories such as Economic - economic class, Civil - gender, sexuality, religion, age, Social and Cultural - race/ethnicity, refugee/migrant status).

The Human Rights Information and Documentation Systems (HURIDOCS) framework identifies three different different state obligations a government must adhere to. A “violation” occurs the moment a state fails to meet any of these. There is the Obligation to Respect, meaning “the state government, Its organs, and all of its agents can not do anything violent towards the integrity of a group or individual,” the Obligation to Protect stating that “the state must provide groups and individuals with protection from anything that might harm them or go against the Declaration of Human Rights.” Lastly, there is the Obligation to Fulfill telling us that “the state must take necessary measures to ensure that each person within its jurisdiction claims satisfactions of those needed.”

Obligation	The State’s Role	What a Violation Looks Like
Respect	Must not interfere with or prevent the enjoyment of human rights.	Passing laws that imprison journalists or banning peaceful protests.
Protect	Prevent others from infringing on human rights.	Failing to prosecute hate crimes or ignoring domestic abuse reports..
Fulfil	Take positive actions to facilitate the enjoyment of human rights.	Refusing to find a public schools or denying access to clean water.

As a whole things need to change and protection of human rights is not solely the responsibility of international courts; it begins with the individual refusing to stay quiet in the face of injustice.