Dignity for All: Building a Culture of Human Rights
October 2008
Banner photo: © Carr Clifton
About the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
PDF poster version - Part 1 / Part 2
"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights."
Eleanor Roosevelt, a driving force behind the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
[UN Photo]
On December 10, 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), calling upon all member states to publicize the text of the Declaration and "to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories."
The Declaration consists of a preamble and 30 articles, setting out a broad range of fundamental human rights and freedoms to which all men and women, everywhere in the world, are entitled, without any distinction. It was the first official international recognition that all human beings have fundamental rights and freedoms, and the first time that the rights and freedoms of individuals had ever been set forth in such detail.
The drafting process of the UDHR involved representatives from all regions and drew inspiration from values, belief systems and political traditions from different cultures and societies across the globe.
It was to be a common statement of mutual aspirations--a shared vision of a more equitable and just world--and has become today a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations and the foundation for an expanding system of human rights protection.
The UDHR has been translated into over 360 different languages, making it the most widely translated document in the world. See: www.unhchr.ch/udhr/
Shaping History
Drafters of the Declaration: Commission Chair Eleanor Roosevelt engages Rapporteur Charles Malik of Lebanon and Vice-Chairman Rene Cassin of France in a discussion
[UN Photo]
Throughout history, popular uprisings have often occurred in reaction to inhumane treatment and injustice. The English Bill of Rights in 1689, drafted after the English Civil Wars, sprang from the people's aspiration for democracy. Exactly a century later, the French Revolution gave rise to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and its proclamation of equality for all. But the Cyrus Cylinder, issued in 539 BCE by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid Persian Empire (ancient Iran) after his conquest of Babylon, is said by many to be the first human rights document, and the Pact of the Virtuous (Hilf-al-Fudul), concluded by the Arab tribes around 590 CE, is considered one of the first human rights alliances.
After World War II and the creation of the United Nations, the international community vowed never again to allow such devastating conflict. World leaders decided to complement the UN Charter with a document which would guarantee the rights of every individual everywhere, always.
Civil rights and union leaders march on Washington, 1963
The task was taken up at the first session of the General Assembly in 1946. Later, the work of drafting a Universal Declaration of Human Rights was entrusted to a formal drafting committee, consisting of members of the Commission on Human Rights from eight states, selected with due regard for geographical distribution. Eleanor Roosevelt, widow of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, chaired the UDHR drafting committee and is recognized as the driving force for the Declaration's adoption.
Ongoing Struggle
The Declaration represents a contract between governments and their peoples, who have a right to demand that this document be respected. Many former colonies drew on its ideals in drafting their first constitutions as independent countries in the 1950s and 60s.
The UN General Assembly
[Agência Brasil]
The UDHR drafters' vision has inspired many human rights defenders who have struggled over the last six decades to make that vision a reality. The struggle is far from over. As the Declaration's custodians and beneficiaries, all of us must reclaim the UDHR, make it our own and help make universal human rights a reality for all. In our efforts lies the power of the UHDR: it is a living document that will continue to inspire generations to come.
(Learn more at www.knowyourrights2008.org and www.ohchr.org/. Text adapted from these sites)
