Tennessee Human Rights Day Celebration Centers on Tomorrow’s Leaders

The Tennessee Celebration of International Human Rights Day will take place in Nashville at the First Amendment Center on December 7th, 5pm – 7pm.

The Tennessee Celebration of International Human Rights Day will take place in Nashville at the First Amendment Center on December 7th, from 5pm – 7pm.  The theme for 2017 is “Human Rights: Our Leaders of Tomorrow,” and the planning committee is bringing together a youth panel to discuss freedom of expression.

Human Rights Day is a time to acknowledge leaders who have given their lives to service, as well as those who have done outstanding work and those taking up the torch for tomorrow. Awards go to human rights champions in three categories: Rising Advocate, Outstanding Service and Lifetime Achievement. Past recipients of these prestigious honors can be seen at NashvilleHumanRights.org.

This year, Rising Advocate Awards will be given to three individuals who have made great strides for human rights and show even greater promise for the future. They are Kayo Beshir, an undergraduate student at Middle Tennessee State University who has worked on and off campus to promote human rights; Pratik Dash, who has worked both with Women On Maintaining Education and Nutrition (WOMEN) and the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC); and Madison White, a junior at Lipscomb University who has been actively involved in local pro bono legal clinics, and also volunteers her time with nonprofits such as Make a Wish Foundation, Second Harvest Food Bank and Free for Life International.

The award winners in the category of Outstanding Service are Jerry Redman, Co-Founder and CEO of Second Life Chattanooga which is an awareness and advocacy organization working to end human sex trafficking and Zulfat Suara, a strong advocate for minorities who is currently President Elect of the Tennessee Women Political Caucus and past chair of the American Muslim Advisory Council (AMAC).

The Lifetime Achievement award will be presented to Thelma Harper, the first African-American woman State Senator of Tennessee who has a long history of service and Joey King, a Board Member for Veterans for Peace who has been active in several organizations to promote human rights, diversity and peace.

International Human Rights Day occurs every year to commemorate the ratification of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations on Dec 10, 1948. A committee of human rights organizations and nonprofits, including the Tennessee Human Rights Commission, Metro Human Relations Commission, United Nations Association, UNICEF, Amnesty International, Free for Life International, Tennessee United for Human Rights, the Church of Scientology, and others, work together each year to plan the event. The event is ticketed at $10, with proceeds going to fund students attending Model UN. For more information or to reserve a seat, visit NashvilleHumanRights.org.