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The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Member states of the United Nations pledged to promote respect for the human rights of all. To advance this goal, the UN established an international Commission on Human Rights led by Eleanor Roosevelt, a well-known human rights advocate. A major objective for the Commission was to create a document that, for the first time in history, would set out human rights for every person.

Opinions about what this document should contain came from many different nations and non-governmental groups. John Humphrey, a Canadian lawyer and human rights expert, was tasked with distilling all these ideas into a draft universal bill of rights.

The draft penned by Humphrey became the foundation for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) of 1948. The Declaration’s 30 articles defined fundamental rights and freedoms for every human being on earth.

The preamble in the UDHR says that: “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.”

The International Bill of Human Rights

The principles of the UDHR offered hope and inspiration around the world. But to make a genuine difference in people’s lives, those principles needed to be transformed into laws.

In 1966, the UN Commission on Human Rights drafted two instruments to give legal force to the UDHR.

One instrument was called the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The second was the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Together with the Universal Declaration, they comprise the International Bill of Human Rights.

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights offers protections for the right to life, freedom of speech, religion and voting. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights focuses on such issues as food, education, health and shelter.

More than 160 nations have ratified these two covenants which legally commit them to ensure these rights for people within their borders.

Later Human Rights Agreements – International

Since passing the International Bill of Human Rights, the United Nations has adopted many legal instruments that focus on various rights such as freedom from torture and protections for refugees (the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, 1950).

Other instruments protect women’s rights (the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979); children’s rights (the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989); Indigenous rights (the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 2007); and rights of persons with disabilities (the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2006).

Regional rights instruments have also emerged, apart from the UN’s efforts. These include the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (1981); the European Convention on Human Rights (1953); and the American Convention on Human Rights (1978), which covers Latin American states.


Date: 2015-12-18; view: 840


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