RECENTLY we saw the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). This bedrock of human rights sets out the fundamental rights we are entitled to whether we live in Bolton, Brisbane or Bahrain.

The Bolton Amnesty International group has been working hard this year to raise awareness of the Declaration, which has been described as the World's Best Kept Secret. We have been asking people to pledge their commitment to the principles of the UDHR. The signatures of 115 people in Bolton - including our three MPs and MEP - will be added to the 1. 5 million in the UK and six million world-wide and presented to the United Nations later this week. We would like to thank everyone who joined us in marking this momentous anniversary, including the staff and customers of The Body Shop who ran a parallel campaign in support of human rights defenders.

We hope that the campaign has made more people aware of the importance of this international standard which underpins the fights we most value. Locally, the Bolton group will be campaigning in the coming year on human rights abuses around the world, particularly the implications of armed conflict and war on children, whether as victims of war or as refugees.

Best wishes to our friends and supporters in and around Bolton.

Mary McBride

Chair - Bolton Amnesty International Group

Walkden Road, Worsley

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.