Human Saga

On December 10

On December 10, the Human Saga records one pivotal event: Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted (1948).

On this day

10 December 1948Universal Declaration of Human Rights adoptedPolitics & governance

On 10 December 1948 the United Nations General Assembly, meeting at the Palais de Chaillot in Paris, adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as Resolution 217 A (III).

Also this week in history (Dec 7 – Dec 13)

7 December 1941Attack on Pearl HarborMilitary & conflict

On the morning of 7 December 1941, Japanese carrier-based aircraft launched a surprise attack on the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, sinking or damaging numerous battleships and other vessels and killing about 2,400…

After a siege lasting from March 1696 to December 1698, the army of the Yarubid sultan of Oman, Saif ibn Sultan, stormed Fort Jesus at Mombasa on 13 December 1698, ending nearly two centuries of Portuguese dominance over the East African…

On 9 December 1824, on the high plateau near Ayacucho in Peru, a patriot army of about 6,000 commanded by Antonio José de Sucre, Bolívar's most capable lieutenant, decisively defeated a larger Spanish royalist force under Viceroy José de…

12 December 1901Marconi's Transatlantic Wireless SignalScience, technology & invention

On 12 December 1901 the Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi reported receiving the first wireless signal transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean.

12–26 December 1936Xi'an Incident and the Second United FrontPolitics & governance

From 12 to 26 December 1936, generals Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng detained Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek at Xi'an, demanding that he halt the civil war against the Chinese Communists and instead unite the nation against Japanese…

11 December 1997Adoption of the Kyoto ProtocolPolitics & governance

On 11 December 1997, at the third Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC in Kyoto, Japan, governments adopted the Kyoto Protocol, the first international treaty to set legally binding greenhouse-gas reduction targets.

11 December 2001China joins the World Trade OrganizationEconomy & trade

On 11 December 2001 the People's Republic of China became the 143rd member of the World Trade Organization, completing a 15-year accession process that required extensive commitments to lower tariffs, open markets and reform domestic…

12 December 2015The Paris AgreementPolitics & governance

On 12 December 2015, at the COP21 climate conference in Paris, 195 nations adopted the Paris Agreement, the first truly universal climate accord binding both developed and developing countries.

11 December 2020First mRNA COVID-19 vaccines authorisedScience, technology & invention

On 11 December 2020 the United States Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorisation to the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, the first messenger-RNA (mRNA) vaccine ever authorised for use in humans; the United Kingdom…

8 December 2024Fall of the Assad regime in SyriaMilitary & conflict

A lightning offensive led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and allied factions captured Damascus, toppling President Bashar al-Assad, who fled to Russia.

1952–1960 (Emergency); independence 12 December 1963Mau Mau Uprising and Kenyan independenceMilitary & conflict

From 1952 to 1960 the British colony of Kenya was convulsed by the Mau Mau rebellion, an armed insurgency by the Kenya Land and Freedom Army, drawn mainly from the Kikuyu, Embu and Meru peoples, against colonial rule and the dispossession…

13 December 2003Capture of Saddam HusseinMilitary & conflict

On 13 December 2003 US forces captured the deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein during Operation Red Dawn near his hometown of Tikrit.

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