Deborah Hopkinson

The rights of chil­dren—and of all liv­ing things—begin in small places, close to home.

This is a poet­ic and mov­ing adap­ta­tion of U.N. Uni­ver­sal Dec­la­ra­tion of Human Rights in hon­or of its sev­en­ty-fifth anniversary.

In back­yards and city parks, in school and at home—wherever and how­ev­er we move through this world, we have cer­tain inalien­able rights—and it’s up to each one of us to ensure those rights for oth­ers, too.

The Uni­ver­sal Dec­la­ra­tion of Human Rights was signed on Decem­ber 10, 1948, marked the first time that coun­tries agreed on a com­pre­hen­sive state­ment of inalien­able human rights. This gor­geous adap­ta­tion for chil­dren reminds us that uni­ver­sal rights begin in small places, close to home.

We all deserve to live free,
to feel safe,
to belong,
to learn,
to dream.

Uni­ver­sal Dec­la­ra­tion of Human Rights