Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Difference between revisions

A foundational text in the [[History of human rights|history of human and civil rights]], the Declaration consists of 30 articles detailing an individual's "basic [[rights]] and fundamental freedoms" and affirming their universal character as inherent, inalienable, and applicable to all human beings.<ref name=":0" /> Adopted as a "common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations", the UDHR commits nations to recognize all humans as being "born free and equal in dignity and rights" regardless of "nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status".<ref>[https://www.un.org/en/udhrbook/pdf/udhr_booklet_en_web.pdf UDHR Booklet], Art. 2.</ref>

 

|url=https://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/srhrdefenders/pages/declaration.aspx|access-date=25 June 2021|website=www.ohchr.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=70 Years of Impact: Insights on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights|url=https://unfoundation.org/blog/post/70-years-of-impact-insights-on-the-universal-declaration-of-human-rights/|access-date=25 June 2021|website=www.unfoundation.org|date=5 December 2018}}</ref>

 

 

== Structure and content ==

{{Listen

| title = State of the Union (Four Freedoms) (6 January 1941)

| description = [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|Franklin Delano Roosevelt]]'s 6&nbsp;January 1941 [[State of the Union address]] introducing the theme of the [[Four Freedoms]] (starting at 32:02)

| image = [[File:FDR in 1933.jpg|100px|frameless]]

}}

 

During [[World War II]], the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]]—known [[Declaration by United Nations|formally as the United Nations]]—adopted as their basic war aims the [[Four Freedoms]]: [[freedom of speech]], [[freedom of religion]], [[freedom from fear]], and [[freedom from want]].<ref name="speech">{{cite web|url=http://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/fdr-the-four-freedoms-speech-text/ |title=FDR, "The Four Freedoms," Speech Text &#124; |publisher=Voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu |date=6 January 1941 |access-date=25 April 2018}}</ref><ref name="Bodnar, John 2010">Bodnar, John, The "Good War" in American Memory. (Maryland: [[Johns Hopkins University Press]], 2010) 11</ref> Towards the end of the war, the [[United Nations Charter]] was debated, drafted, and ratified to reaffirm "faith in [[Human rights|fundamental human rights]], and dignity and worth of the human person" and commit all member states to promote "universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion".<ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/chapter9.shtml |title = United Nations Charter, preamble and article 55 |publisher=United Nations |access-date=20 April 2013}}</ref> When the atrocities committed by [[Nazi Germany]] became fully apparent after the war, the consensus within the world community was that the [[United Nations|UN]] Charter did not sufficiently define the rights to which it referred.<ref>[http://www.udhr.org/history/overview.htm#Cataclysm%20and%20World%20Response Cataclysm and World Response] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120045717/http://www.udhr.org/history/overview.htm#Cataclysm%20and%20World%20Response |date=20 January 2013 }} in [http://www.udhr.org/history/overview.htm Drafting and Adoption : The Universal Declaration of Human Rights] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120045717/http://www.udhr.org/history/overview.htm |date=20 January 2013 }}, [http://www.udhr.org udhr.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190927155113/http://www.udhr.org/history/overview.htm |date=2019-09-27 }}.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.udhr.org/Introduction/question4.htm |title=UDHR50: Didn't Nazi tyranny end all hope for protecting human rights in the modern world? |publisher=Udhr.org |date=28 August 1998 |access-date=7 July 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120525091118/http://www.udhr.org/history/overview.htm |archive-date=25 May 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> It was deemed necessary to create a universal declaration that specified the rights of individuals so as to give effect to the Charter's provisions on [[human rights]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.universalrights.net/main/creation.htm |title=UDHR&nbsp;– History of human rights |publisher=Universalrights.net |access-date=7 July 2012}}</ref>

=== The drafting committee ===

 

 

Canadian [[John Peters Humphrey]], the newly appointed Director of the Division of Human Rights within the United Nations Secretariat, was called upon by the [[United Nations Secretary-General|UN Secretary-General]] to work on the project, becoming the Declaration's principal drafter.<ref>{{harvnb |Morsink |1999 |p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=w8OapwltI3YC&pg=PA5 5]}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb |Morsink |1999 |p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=w8OapwltI3YC&pg=PA133 133]}}</ref> Other prominent members of the Drafting Committee included Vice-Chairman [[P. C. Chang|P.C. Chang]] of the [[Republic of China (1912-1949)|Republic of China]], [[René Cassin]] of France; and its Committee Rapporteur [[Charles Malik]] of [[Lebanon]].<ref name="RoC rep">The Declaration was drafted during the [[Chinese Civil War]]. P.C. Chang was appointed as a representative by the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]], then the recognised government of China, but which was driven from [[mainland China]] and now administers only [[Taiwan]] and nearby islands ([http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/chinese-nationalists-move-capital-to-taiwan history.com]).</ref> A month after its creation, the Drafting Committee was expanded to include representatives of Australia, Chile, France, the Soviet Union, and the [[United Kingdom]], in addition to the inaugural members from [[China]], [[France]], [[Lebanon]], and the [[United States]].<ref name=":2"/>

Eleanor Roosevelt is credited with having been instrumental in mustering support for the Declaration's adoption, both in her native U.S. and across the world, owing to her ability to appeal to different and often opposing political blocs.<ref name="unfoundation.org">{{Cite web|date=5 December 2018|title=70 Years of Impact: Insights on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights|url=https://unfoundation.org/blog/post/70-years-of-impact-insights-on-the-universal-declaration-of-human-rights/|access-date=13 September 2020|website=unfoundation.org|language=en-US}}</ref>

 

 

The [[British government|British]] delegation, while voting in favour of the Declaration, expressed frustration that the proposed document had moral obligations but lacked legal force;<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.bl.uk/collection-items/universal-declaration-of-human-rights|title=''Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Final authorized text''|date=September 1952|publisher=The British Library|access-date=16 August 2015}}</ref> it would not be until 1976 that the [[International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights]] came into force, giving a legal status to most of the Declaration.

In 2004, the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]] ruled in ''[[Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain]]'' that the Declaration "does not of its own force impose obligations as a matter of international law", and that the political branches of the U.S. federal government can "scrutinize" the nation's obligations to international instruments and their enforceability.<ref name=":1" /> However, U.S. courts and legislatures may still use the Declaration to inform or interpret laws concerned with human rights,<ref name=":11">G. Christenson, "Using Human Rights Law to Inform Due Process and Equal Protection Analyses," University of Cincinnati Law Review 52 (1983), '''p. 3'''.</ref> a position shared by the courts of Belgium, the Netherlands, India, and Sri Lanka.<ref name=":11" />

 

The Universal Declaration has received praise from a number of notable activists, jurists, and political leaders. [[Lebanon|Lebanese]] philosopher and diplomat [[Charles Malik]] called it "an international document of the first order of importance",<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/law/AVLpilotproject/udhr_audio.html|title=Statement by Charles Malik as Representative of Lebanon to the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly on the Universal Declaration|date=6 November 1948 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080928133214/http://www.un.org/law/AVLpilotproject/udhr_audio.html |archive-date=28 September 2008}}</ref> while [[Eleanor Roosevelt]]—first chairperson of the [[Commission on Human Rights]] (CHR) that helped draft the Declaration—stated that it "may well become the international [[Magna Carta]] of all men everywhere."<ref>{{cite web |author=Michael E. Eidenmuller |url = https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/eleanorrooseveltdeclarationhumanrights.htm |title=Eleanor Roosevelt: Address to the United Nations General Assembly |publisher=Americanrhetoric.com |date=9 December 1948 |access-date=7 July 2012}}</ref> At the 1993 United Nations [[World Conference on Human Rights]], one of the largest international gatherings on human rights,<ref>[[Kevin Boyle (lawyer)|Boyle, Kevin]] (1995). "Stock-Taking on Human Rights: The World Conference on Human Rights, Vienna 1993". In Beetham, David (ed.). ''Politics and Human Rights''. [[Wiley-Blackwell]]. p. 79. {{ISBN|0631196668}}.</ref> diplomats and officials representing 100 nations reaffirmed their governments' "commitment to the purposes and principles contained in the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights" and emphasized that the Declaration as "the source of inspiration and has been the basis for the United Nations in making advances in standard setting as contained in the existing international human rights instruments."<ref name=":7" /> In a speech on 5 October 1995, Pope [[John Paul II]] called the Declaration "one of the highest expressions of the human conscience of our time", despite the Vatican never adopting it.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/secretariat_state/2003/documents/rc_seg-st_20031210_human-rights_en.html |title=John Paul II, Address to the U.N., October 2, 1979 and October 5, 1995 |publisher=Vatican.va |access-date=7 July 2012}}</ref> In a statement on 10 December 2003 on behalf of the [[European Union]], [[Marcello Spatafora]] said that the Declaration "placed human rights at the centre of the framework of principles and obligations shaping relations within the international community".<ref>{{Citation | url = https://www.un.org/press/en/2003/ga10220.doc.htm | title = International human rights defenders honoured as general assembly marks fifty-fifth anniversary of universal declaration | date = 10 December 2003 | website = United Nations: meetings coverage and press releases}}</ref>

 

Specific provisions of the UDHR are cited or elaborated by [[Lobbying|interest groups]] in relation to their specific area of focus. In 1997, the council of the [[American Library Association]] (ALA) endorsed Articles 18 through 20 concerning freedoms of thought, opinion, and expression,<ref>{{cite web|title=Resolution on IFLA, Human Rights and Freedom of Expression|url=http://www.ala.org/offices/iro/awardsactivities/resolutionifla|website=ala.org|date=8 November 2006}}</ref> which were codified in the ALA Universal Right to Free Expression and the [[Library Bill of Rights]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The Universal Right to Free Expression|url=http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/universalright|work=ala.org|date=26 July 2006}}</ref> The Declaration formed the basis of the ALA's claim that [[censorship]], [[invasion of privacy]], and interference of opinions are human rights violations.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Universal Right to Free Expression|url=http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/universalright|access-date=1 April 2018|website=American Library Association|date=26 July 2006}}</ref>

 

{{Further|Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam}}

[[File:Map of Islam.svg|thumb|right|Distribution map of [[Islam by country]]]]

[[Faisal Kutty]], a Muslim Canadian human rights activist, opines that a "strong argument can be made that the current formulation of international human rights constitutes a cultural structure in which western society finds itself easily at home [...]. It is important to acknowledge and appreciate that other societies may have equally valid alternative conceptions of human rights."<ref>{{cite web |url = http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/6294545?versionId=7270568 |title=Non-Western Societies Have Influenced Human Rights |publisher=in Jacqueline Langwith (ed.), Opposing Viewpoints: Human Rights, Gale/Greenhaven Press: Chicago, 2007}}</ref> Irene Oh, director of the peace studies programme at [[Georgetown University]], has argued that Muslim reservations towards some provisions of the UDHR, and the broader debate about the document's secular and Western bias, could be resolved through mutual dialogue grounded in [[Descriptive ethics|comparative descriptive ethics]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The Rights of God|url=http://press.georgetown.edu/book/georgetown/rights-god|publisher=[[Georgetown University Press]], 2007}}</ref>

 

Groups such as [[Amnesty International]]<ref name="autogenerated1997">[https://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/EUR01/004/1997/en Out of the margins: the right to conscientious objection to military service in Europe: An announcement of Amnesty International's forthcoming campaign and briefing for the United Nations Commission on Human Rights], 31 March 1997. Amnesty International.</ref> and [[War Resisters International]]<ref name="War Resisters International">[http://www.wri-irg.org/books/co-guide-un.htm A Conscientious Objector's Guide to the UN Human Rights System], Parts 1, 2 & 3, Background Information on International Law for COs, Standards which recognise the right to conscientious objection, War Resisters' International.</ref> have advocated for "The Right to Refuse to Kill" to be added to the Universal Declaration, as has [[Seán MacBride]], a former Assistant [[Secretary-General of the United Nations]] and [[Nobel Peace Prize]] laureate.<ref>[[Seán MacBride]], [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1974/macbride-lecture.html The Imperatives of Survival], Nobel Lecture, 12 December 1974, [https://www.nobelprize.org/index.html The Nobel Foundation]&nbsp;– Official website of the [[Nobel Foundation]]. (English index page; hyperlink to Swedish site.) From [https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_organizations/nobelfoundation/publications/lectures/peace.html Nobel Lectures in Peace] 1971–1980.</ref> War Resisters International has stated that the right to [[Conscientious objector|conscientious objection]] to military service is primarily derived from Article 18 of the UDHR, which preserves the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.<ref name="War Resisters International" /> Some [[Conscientious objector#Universal Declaration of Human Rights|steps have been taken within the UN]] to make the right more explicit, with the Human Rights Council repeatedly affirming that Article 18 enshrines "the right of everyone to have conscientious objection to military service as a legitimate exercise of the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion".<ref>{{Cite web|title=OHCHR {{!}} Conscientious objection to military service|url=https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/RuleOfLaw/Pages/ConscientiousObjection.aspx|access-date=20 August 2020|website=www.ohchr.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Human Rights Documents|url=https://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/RES/24/17|access-date=20 August 2020|website=ap.ohchr.org}}</ref>

 

The [[American Anthropological Association]] criticized the UDHR during its drafting process, warning that its definition of universal rights reflected a [[Western Culture|Western]] paradigm that was unfair to non-Western nations. They further argued that the West's history of [[colonialism]] and [[evangelism]] made them a problematic moral representative for the rest of the world. They proposed three notes for consideration with underlying themes of [[cultural relativism]]:

 

# Standards and values are relative to the culture from which they derive so that any attempt to formulate postulates that grow out of the beliefs or moral codes of one culture must to that extent detract from the applicability of any Declaration of Human Rights to mankind as a whole.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://franke.uchicago.edu/aaa1947.pdf |title=Statement on Human Rights |access-date=30 October 2015 |archive-date=22 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200322142127/http://franke.uchicago.edu/aaa1947.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

 

During the lead-up to the [[World Conference on Human Rights]] that was held in 1993, ministers from several Asian states adopted the Bangkok Declaration, which reaffirms their governments' commitment to the principles of the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They stated their belief that human rights are interdependent and indivisible, and stressed the need for universality, [[objectivity (philosophy)|objectivity]], and non-selectivity of human rights. However, at the same time, they emphasized the principles of [[sovereignty]] and non-interference, calling for greater emphasis upon economic, social, and cultural rights, and in particular, the right to economic development by establishing international collaboration directives between the signatories. The Bangkok Declaration is considered to be a landmark expression of [[Asian values]] with respect to human rights, which offers an extended critique of human rights [[moral universalism|universalism]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://law.hku.hk/lawgovtsociety/Bangkok%20Declaration.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041124184022/http://law.hku.hk/lawgovtsociety/Bangkok%20Declaration.htm|archive-date=24 November 2004 |title=Final Declaration Of The Regional Meeting For Asia Of The World Conference On Human Rights |publisher=Law.hku.hk |access-date=7 July 2012}}</ref>

 

[[Category:1948 documents]]

[[Category:December 1948 events]]

[[Category:Human rights instruments]]

[[Category:United Nations General Assembly resolutions]]