Bermuda joined countries around the world celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights over the weekend.

To commemorate the event, the Human Rights Commission hosted a 'global village' exposition in Par-la-Ville Park on Saturday as a means of educating residents "on human rights issues and (to) celebrate the infusion of cultures in Bermuda that comprise our community and represent who we are as a people".

Live performances by bands, musicians and dancers were some of the many cultural activities on display.

The importance of the anniversary was raised prior to its observance by executive director of Amnesty International Bermuda, Lucy Attride-Stirling. In a speech delivered on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, she highlighted Bermuda's laws and rights and the maltreatment those with disabilities face worldwide.

"Around ten percent of the world's population, that is about 650 million people, live with disabilities," she said.

"The Convention (on the Rights of the Persons with Disabilities) promotes and protects the human rights of persons with disabilities in civil, cultural, economic, political, and social life. However, all over the world, persons with disabilities continue to face barriers to their participation in society and are often forced to live on the margins of society.

"They are routinely denied basic human rights, such as equal recognition before the law, freedom of expression and opinion, and the right to participate in political and public life, such as voting."

She added: "Eighty percent of persons with disabilities, that's over 400 million people, live in poor countries and there is a strong link between disability and poverty."

Ninety percent of children with disabilities in developing countries do not attend school because of poverty, the executive director stated, explaining that Amnesty International continues to fight for their rights so they are treated equally.

Amnesty International established a campaign aimed at improving such conditions a year ago, Ms Attride-Stirling said.

It has been successful in helping promote change in countries such as Slovakia where disabled children are now included in regular elementary schools in one district in the country.

The organisation plans to launch a new campaign in 2009 "based on economic, social, and cultural rights, that aims to show how poverty is strongly linked to a lack of human rights for a very large percentage of the world's population".

"Poverty is more than deprivation, it is also exclusion, insecurity and voicelessness," she said. "This campaign will show that the poor are disproportionately exposed to the whole range of human rights violations, and that without respect for human rights principles, efforts to alleviate poverty are doomed to failure.

"Poverty is not an accident. Nor is it inevitable. Poverty is not just a lack of income; it is the denial of access to the resources, capability, choices, security and power that people need in order to realise their human right to live with dignity.

"Behind the bald statistics of poverty, lie the ignored stories of discrimination, neglect, marginalisation, human rights violations and abuse. A massive shift in mindset is needed so that poverty, instead of being viewed as an inevitable social condition, is understood and addressed as a condition driven by political choices and perpetuated by human rights abuses.

"Only when all humans have access to the benefits of all human rights, irrespective of sex, race, language, religion, political opinion, ethnic origin, property, birth or other status, will we know real peace."