Tuesday, 11 December 2018

70th Anniversary of UN Declaration of Human Rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights reaches its 70th anniversary today, a chance to highlight the many important breakthroughs brought about by the landmark UN document, and a reminder to the world that the human rights of millions are still being violated on a daily basis.

Thanks to the Declaration, and States’ commitments to its principles, the dignity of millions has been uplifted, untold human suffering prevented and the foundations for a more just World have been laid.


(Eleanor Roosevelt and UNs Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1949))

Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement released on Wednesday that the document has gone from being an “aspirational treatise” to a set of standards that has “permeated virtually every area of international law.”
  • All people are born free and equal, because they have reason and conscience.
  • Everyone has a right to life, liberty, and security of their person. 
  • Everyone should be protected from any kind of discrimination. 
  • Everyone has a right to have a nationality and change one's nationality. Everyone has a right to an education. 
  • Everyone has a right to get a job. 
  • Everyone has a right to vote and take part in the government of one's own country. 
  • Everyone has a right to take part in cultural life—to choose a way of life. 
  • No person may be tortured, or treated in a cruel or unkind way. 
  • Everyone has the right to seek and gain asylum from persecution. 
  • Everyone has a right to have ideas or opinions, to decide what is right and what is wrong, and to choose a religion. 
  • Everyone has a right to speak or write freely and the right to join a peaceful group to express one's opinion. 
  • Everyone has a right to security if suffering unemployment, disease, disability, old age or loss of a partner. 
  • Everyone has duties to the community where one's personality can be developed freely. 
  • No one can abuse the rights to destroy the freedom or rights in this Declaration.

1 comment:

  1. Wendy kindly let me know that, "Futurelearn have a course on this coming up in conjunction with amnesty international."

    ReplyDelete