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| Neither optional Nor exclusive |
Recognizing inherent dignity, equality, inalienable rights
of all: all peoples and nations
Excerpt, editing by Carolyn Bennett
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oday is Human Rights Day
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is the foundational
document of international human rights law, called in 1940s by the American
diplomat, Eleanor Roosevelt, humanity’s Magna Carta, a charter
of liberties whose agreement in 1215 English barons had
wrung from King John.
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| Eleanor Roosevelt with UDHR |
Eleanor Roosevelt chaired the United Nations (UN) Commission
on Human Rights that was responsible for the drafting of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. Also involved in the documents’ drafting were Canadian
professor of law and the UN Secretariat’s Human Rights Director, John Humphrey;
French jurist René Cassin; Chinese playwright, philosopher and diplomat, Chang
Peng-chun; and Lebanese philosopher and diplomat, Charles Habib Malik.
With abstentions from the Belorussian Soviet Socialist
Republic (SSR), Czechoslovakia, Poland, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the Soviet
Union, the Ukrainian SSR, and Yugoslavia and after minor changes in the
document, the UDHR was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on
December 10, 1948 (now celebrated annually as Human Rights Day), as a “common
standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations.”
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niversal Declaration of Human Rights [1948] 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.
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Louise Arbour, a former High Commissioner for Human Rights,
former
justice of the Supreme Court of Canada and the Court of Appeal for Ontario, former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals
for the former
Yugoslavia and Rwanda,
said:
“If
international criminal justice is ever to be effective,
its enforcement cannot
be selective.”
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U
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niversal Declaration of Human Rights [1948] 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, color 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 defense.
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 honor 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 favorable 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 favorable 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.
Source
Encyclopedia Britannica Article
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