About 200 Asian Americans including Vietnamese Americans in the California Bay Area met on Feb. 21, 1998 in the city of Freemont to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which will come on December 10 this year.

The meeting marked the second time representatives of various ethnic communities including the Chinese, Indian, Korean, Mongolian, Taiwanese, Philippines, Thai, native American, and Vietnamese met together to uphold values close to their hearts--the basic human rights recognized by the Universal Declaration. Each ethnic representative gave a short speech. Participants shared their proud cultures with art performances, music, songs, and foods.

Representatives of each ethnic group also took turns reading sections of the Declaration. Bill McCarthy, co-Chairman of the Union, read an excerpt of a Human Rights Proclamation by U.S. President Bill Clinton, an appreciation of human rights by Congressman Tom Lantos and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, in which the two representatives also denounced countries of violation.