Utrecht Celebrates Human Rights Month and Human Rights Day

In the coming weeks—from November 11 to December 12—Utrecht celebrates Human Rights Month. Through a rich and varied program, we experience that human rights are not distant, but for all of us.

11/19/2025

In the coming weeks—from November 11 to December 12—Utrecht celebrates Human Rights City. In this ‘Human Rights Month’ we can experience through a rich and varied program that human rights are not something ‘far away’, but for all of us. Human rights belong to the whole city, and therefore the Municipality of Utrecht actively works to translate international human rights agreements locally.

The month is created together with the city: with residents, schools, artists, and social organizations. Their ideas, stories, and initiatives form a diverse program full of activities that make solidarity, equality, and freedom tangible. The Human Rights Month connects existing initiatives such as Orange the World, the exhibition Oud Zeer, and activities in the House of Active Citizenship, making visible how Utrecht works on human rights every day.

Together towards December 10

The various themes and initiatives come together on the International Human Rights Day on Wednesday evening, December 10, in and around Utrecht City Hall. This year’s theme is: Utrecht Human Rights City, with alderwoman for diversity and inclusion Linda Voortman and human rights ambassador Alma Mustafić.

Visitors can participate that evening in numerous workshops, presentations, and panels about freedom, human rights, and plurality, meet Utrecht and international human rights defenders, organizations, and initiatives, and look back and forward together on important developments regarding human rights in the city. The evening ends with singing and the presentation of the new Human Rights calendar.

Utrecht Human Rights City

Human Rights Month and Human Rights Day are steps in a joint process. Utrecht is working, together with residents, partners, and organizations, to give human rights an increasingly central role, to make them discussable and to embed them in the daily life of the city. We do this step by step, together.

The full program can be found on this webpage