Universal Declaration of Human Rights

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Eleanor Roosevelt with the Spanish version of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (abbreviated UDHR) is a foundation document of international human rights law. It was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly December 10 1948 at Palais de Chaillot, Paris. It consists of 30 articles which outline the view of the United Nations on the human rights guaranteed to all people. Eleanor Roosevelt, first chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) that drafted the Declaration, said, "It is not a treaty...[In the future, it] may well become the international Magna Carta..."[1]

The Guinness Book of Records describes the UDHR as the "Most Translated Document" in the world, translated as of 2004 into 321 languages and dialects.[2]

The date of the Declaration's adoption, December 10, is now celebrated annually as international Human Rights Day.


History

Prior to the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, several countries had proclaimed comparable declarations. Examples include the Bill of Rights in the United States, and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in France.

After the advent of the United Nations and considering the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany during World War II, a consensus within the world community soon emerged that the United Nations Charter did not sufficiently define the rights that it referenced. A universal declaration that specified the rights of individuals was necessary. Canadian John Peters Humphrey was called upon by the UN Secretary to work on the project and became the Declaration's principal drafter. Humphrey was assisted by Eleanor Roosevelt of the United States, Jacques Maritain and René Cassin of France, Charles Malik of Lebanon, and P. C. Chang of the Republic of China, among others.

To achieve a document acceptable to all parties in the United Nations, however, was no easy task. The the philosophy of the United States, rooted in the Declaration of Independence's ideas of innate human rights granted by "the creator" and not the state, was offensive to the Soviet Union, which was officially committed to atheism. The Muslim states, meanwhile, faced difficulties with the manner in which the western powers wished to word guarantees of religious freedom and equality for women. South Africa could not agree to guarantees of racial equality which flew in the face of its own system of apartheid. Moreoever, capitalist nations felt uneasy with guaranteeing economic rights that could infringe on their free market economies.

Nevertheless, the proclamation was ratified during the General Assembly on 10 December, 1948 by a vote of 48 in favour, 0 against, with 8 abstentions (all Soviet Bloc states, South Africa and Saudi Arabia).[3] It had been the subject of considerable controversy prior to its adoption. The Soviet Bloc objected to the strong wording of several of its provisions guaranteeing individual rights such as freedom of speech, religion, and conscience. South Africa objected to its guarantees of racial equality and universal suffrage. Saudi Arabia objected to the stipulation in Article 18 of the right to change one's religion. Even securing abstension rather than opposing votes from these delegations would have been impossible were it not for the Declaration's non-binding status.

Structure and legal implications

The document is laid out in the civil law tradition, including a preamble followed by thirty articles. Articles 3-21 deal with civil and political rights, while Articles 22-27 outline economic, social, and cultural rights. (See "text" below for details.) The Declaration was conceived as a statement of objectives to be followed by governments. Although it is non-binding on UN membersm international lawyers believe that the Declaration forms part of customary international law and is a powerful tool in applying diplomatic and moral pressure to governments that violate any of its articles.

The 1968, United Nations International Conference on Human Rights decided it "constitutes an obligation for the members of the international community" to all persons. The declaration has also served as the foundation for the original two legally-binding UN human rights covenants: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. It continues to be widely cited by academics, advocates, and constitutional courts.

The wording of several of the Declaration's specific articles was later included in several other international covenants, as well as being adopted into the wording of the constitutions of several counties. It has also been an important source in the development of the European Union's standards for human rights legislation.


Text

Preamble

Preamble Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,

Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,

Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,

Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,

Now, therefore,

The General Assembly

Proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

The Articles

Article 1

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and the security of person.

Article 4

No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Article 5

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Article 6

Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Article 7

All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Article 8

Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

Article 9

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Article 10

Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair, and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

Article 11

1. Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.

2. No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

Article 12

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Article 13

1. Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State.

2. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

Article 14

1. Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.

2. This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 15

1. Everyone has the right to a nationality.

2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

Article 16

1. Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.

2. Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.

3. The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

Article 17

1. Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.

2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

Article 18

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 20

1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

2. No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 21

1. Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.

2. Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.

3. The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Article 22

Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

Article 23

1. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.

2. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.

3. Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.

4. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Article 24

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Article 25

1. Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

2. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

Article 26

1. Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

2. Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

3. Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Article 27

1. Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Article 28

Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

Article 29

1. Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.

2. In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.

3. These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 30

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

Praise and Criticism

Praise

  • In a speech on 5 October 1995, John Paul II called the UDHR "one of the highest expressions of the human conscience of our time."
  • "Taken as a whole, the Delegation of the United States believes that this a good document – even a great document – and we propose to give it our full support. [...] This Universal Declaration of Human Rights may well become the international Magna Carta of all men everywhere."
Eleanor Roosevelt, 9 December 1948
  • Statement by Marcello Spatafora on behalf of the European Union on 10 December 2003: "Over the past 55 years, humanity has made extraordinary progress in the promotion and protection of human rights thanks to the creative force generated by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, undoubtedly one of the most influential documents in history. It is a remarkable document, full of idealism but also of determination to learn lessons from the past and not to repeat the same mistakes. Most importantly, it placed human rights at the centre of the framework of principles and obligations shaping relations within the international community."
  • "For people of good will around the world, that document is more than just words: It's a global testament of humanity, a standard by which any humble person on Earth can stand in judgment of any government on Earth."
Ronald Reagan (March 1989, US Department of State Bulletin)

Criticism

  • Predominantly Muslim countries, like Sudan, Pakistan, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, frequently criticized the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for its perceived failure to take into account the cultural and religious context of non-Western countries. In 1981, the Iranian representative to the United Nations, Said Rajaie-Khorassani, articulated the position of his country regarding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, by saying that the UDHR was "a secular understanding of the Judeo-Christian tradition," which could not be implemented by Muslims without trespassing the Islamic law.[4]

However, while a few Muslim nations have criticized the UDHR as Western (there are about 50 Muslim nations), Rudolph Peters, Professor of Islamic Law at Amsterdam University has said that of Muslim nations, there is "a greater compliance with universal human rights norms by the states that have introduced Islamic criminal law." (As opposed to these more modern Westernized Muslim states.)

Muslims nations are committed to different international human rights conventions that have been drafted and are implemented under the aegis of the United Nations. Unlike the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, these conventions are binding upon their signatories, in spite of the fact that the sanctions on violations are minimal. Nevertheless, their signatories show their commitment to human rights. The instruments relevant to this study are: the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR); the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW); the 1984 Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment (CAT); and the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CDC).
"The legitimacy of modern human rights discourse is often challenged by Muslims with the argument that human rights are a Western invention based on a Western discourse that does not take into account the cultural specificity of the Muslim world or non-Western cultures in general. Yet most Muslim states have by now become signatories to human rights conventions, showing their acceptance of international human rights discourse..." It may be that by having avoided modernity Muslim nations have not needed to adopt these rhetorical universal declarations because the Muslim Ummah is so much more thorough in safeguarding the well-being of the community than the typical Western modern capitalist nation, which apparently needs to be babysat in order to play nice.[5]
  • Jeane Kirkpatrick, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, argued that certain economic rights cannot be human rights, for they must be provided by others through forceful extraction, for example taxation, and that they negate other peoples' inalienable rights.[6] Kirkpatrick called the Declaration "a letter to Santa Claus",[7] saying "Neither nature, experience, nor probability informs these lists of 'entitlements', which are subject to no constraints except those of the mind and appetite of their authors."[8]


See also

Non-binding agreements

  • Cyrus Cylinder, Ancient Persia, 559-530 B.C.E.
  • Declaration of Sentiments, 1848
  • Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam, 1990
  • Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, 1993
  • United Nations Millennium Declaration, 2000

National human rights law

International human rights law

Other

Further reading

  • Johannes Morsink, "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Origins, Drafting & Intent" (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999).
  • Canadian Histori.ca Moment on the philosophical precedent & importance to Humanist development.

Notes

  1. ↑ Eleanor Roosevelt: Address to the United Nations General Assembly December 9, 1948 in Paris, France. Retrieved May 12, 2007.
  2. ↑ See UDHR translation citation under Arts and Media - Books & Magazines www.guinnessworldrecords.com. Retrieved September 13, 2005. However, Guinness also mentions that the Bible has been translated into far more languages and dialects than the UDHR.
  3. ↑ See [1] under "Who are the signatories of the Declaration?"
  4. ↑ Littman, David. "Universal Human Rights and Human Rights in Islam." Midstream, February/March 1999
  5. ↑ Rudolph Peters "Islamic Criminal Law Today" in Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law: Theory and Practice from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-first Century, Cambridge University Press, 2005, p174
  6. ↑ See Capitalism Magazine - United Nations Declaration of Human Rights Destroys Individual Rights Retrieved June 22, 2006.
  7. ↑ [2]
  8. ↑ [3]

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