MDC joins global effort to cast light on iconic buildings around the world on Human Rights Day
Miami, Dec. 5, 2019 – Miami Dade College (MDC) will illuminate its historic Freedom Tower blue at sunset, Tuesday, Dec. 10, in support of Human Rights Day 2019. This year, which marks the 71th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, MDC joins other iconic buildings around the world in a display of support for human rights. The buildings include the Empire State Building in New York; the CN Tower in Toronto, Canada; the London Eye; the John Hancock Tower in Chicago; and Taipei 101 in Taiwan.
The movement to turn global landmarks blue was initiated in 2012 by Human Rights Watch (HRW), one of the world’s leading human rights organizations. In lighting the Freedom Tower blue, MDC, a long-time proponent of immigrant rights and equal education opportunities, joins forces with Human Rights Watch to honor Human Rights Day and support its mission to promote rights and justice around the world.
Human Rights Day celebrates the adoption in 1948 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly. The Universal Declaration delineated, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected. The declaration has since been translated into over 500 languages.
Human Rights Watch is an independent, international organization founded in 1978, with an office in Miami, which takes no money from any government. Human Rights Watch researchers work in the field in more than 100 countries, uncovering facts that create an undeniable record of human rights abuses, then exposing those stories in the news media and sharing them with millions of social media followers. Human Rights Watch partners with groups large and small across the globe, and meets with governments, the United Nations, rebel groups, corporations, and others to see that they change policy, enforce laws and deliver justice. Its more than 480 staff members based around the world work tirelessly to protect the people most at risk, including vulnerable minorities, civilians in wartime, refugees and children in need. For more information, please visit HRW.org.
The Freedom Tower is a long-standing symbol of immigration and freedom in Miami, having served as a newspaper headquarters and a Cuban refugee center before becoming a museum under the management of MDC.
WHAT: MDC’s Freedom Tower Goes Blue for Human Rights Day
WHEN: Tuesday, Dec. 10, at sunset
WHERE: MDC’s Freedom Tower, 600 Biscayne Blvd.
HRW Media Contact: Emma Daly, HRW director of communications, 212-216-1835, dalye@hrw.org, @HRW and @HRW_Miami.