Nearly everybody knows that a heart symbolizes love and a dove means peace. But what is the symbol for human rights? The answer is that there is none. There are 6.8 billion people living on this planet. All of them have human rights – and yet we still have no way of overcoming language barriers to communicate this universal bond symbolically. With your help, this could be about to change:

In May 2011 the website www.humanrightslogo.net was launched, where people from all over the world could discuss and discover their human rights logo, send in suggestions and rate the ideas of others. A total of 15,375 logo suggestions from over 190 countries were submitted during the first phase of the logo competition, the largest of its kind so far.

The 10 finalists chosen by the jury are now online and the voting to choose the best one has started! From 27 August to 17 September 2011, people can vote for their favourites at www.humanrightslogo.net. All people worldwide are encouraged to participate by choosing their favourite logo. This would put the original idea of the competition into practice: the creation of a human rights logo by the people for the people.

The winning logo will be presented on 23 September 2011 in New York alongside the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. The presentation will be broadcast worldwide via internet.

Don’t miss this opportunity! Be a part of this worldwide initiative to support and strengthen human rights, and cast your vote today!

Background information:

To this day, there is no universally reckognizable logo for human rights. To fill this gap and to make a peaceful contribution to strengthening human rights, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle has started the initiative for a global online competition to create “A Logo for Human Rights”. He and his fellow Foreign Minister collegues from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Chile, the Czech Republic, Mauritus, Senegal, Singapore, and Uruguay have jointly created the website www.humanrightslogo.net

A jury of renowned and high-ranking personalities supports the initiative, including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay (South Africa) and five Nobel Peace Prize winners – Aung San Suu Kyi (Myanmar), Shirin Ebadi (Iran), Muhammad Yunus (Bangladesh), Mikhail Gorbachev (Russia) and Jimmy Carter (USA) – as well as Angelina Acheng Atyam (children’s rights activist, Uganda), Waris Dirie (supermodel and women’s rights activist, Somalia), Roland Emmerich (Hollywood director and producer, Germany), Carolyn Gomes (human rights activist, Jamaica), Juanes (pop star and peace activist, Colombia), Somaly Mam (human rights activist, Cambodia), Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu (human rights activist, Sri Lanka), Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia founder, USA), and internationally renowned design experts such as Ahmad Humeid (Jordan), Javier Mariscal (Spain), Erik Spiekermann (Germany) and others. The Foreign Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Chile, the Czech Republic, Germany, Mauritius, Senegal, Singapore, and Uruguay who had taken the initiative in creating a platform for the logo competition are also participating.

Further information: www.humanrightslogo.net