15,375 logo suggestions from over 190 countries – that is the result of the submission phase of the global online competition “A Logo for Human Rights.” Since the initiative started on 3 May, people from all over the world have participated in the logo competition, the largest of its kind so far. They sent in suggestions and rated the ideas of others. The 10 finalists chosen by the jury are now online and the voting to choose the best one has started! From 27 August to 17 September 2011, people can vote for their favourites at www.humanrightslogo.net. All people worldwide are encouraged to participate by choosing their favourite logo. This would put the original idea of the competition into practice: the creation of a human rights logo by the people for the people. The winning logo will be presented on 23 September 2011 in New York alongside the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. The presentation will be broadcast worldwide via internet. Nearly everybody knows that a heart symbolizes love and a dove means peace. But what is the symbol for human rights? The answer is that there is none. There are 6.8 billion people living on this planet. All of them have human rights – and yet we still have no way of overcoming language barriers to communicate this universal bond symbolically. We want to fill this gap and make a peaceful contribution to strengthening human rights with the “Logo for Human Rights” initiative. Who supports the initiative? A jury of renowned and high-ranking personalities. They include UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay (South Africa) and five Nobel Peace Prize winners – Aung San Suu Kyi (Myanmar), Shirin Ebadi (Iran), Muhammad Yunus (Bangladesh), Mikhail Gorbachev (Russia) and Jimmy Carter (USA) – as well as Angelina Acheng Atyam (children’s rights activist, Uganda), Waris Dirie (supermodel and women’s rights activist, Somalia), Roland Emmerich (Hollywood director and producer, Germany), Carolyn Gomes (human rights activist, Jamaica), Juanes (pop star and peace activist, Colombia), Somaly Mam (human rights activist, Cambodia), Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu (human rights activist, Sri Lanka), Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia founder, USA), and internationally renowned design experts such as Ahmad Humeid (Jordan), Javier Mariscal (Spain), Erik Spiekermann (Germany) and others. The Foreign Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Chile, the Czech Republic, Germany, Mauritius, Senegal, Singapore, and Uruguay who had taken the initiative in creating a platform for the logo competition are also participating. Further information: www.humanrightslogo.net

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