All You Need To Know About The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

History of the Declaration

• Adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on the 10th of December 1948 as a response to the atrocities of WW2 (to ensure that atrocities the likes of those are not going to take place ever again).

• It was first taken up at the 1st session of the GA in 1946, then transferred to the Economic and Social Council, then to the Commission on Human Rights (18 diverse members) for consideration.

• Later, the work was taken up by a formal drafting committee that consisted of members of the Commission from 8 States (selected to ensure geographical distribution).

• The final UDHR was adopted by resolution 217 A (III) of 10/12/1948.

• 8 nations abstained from the vote but none dissented.

Drafters of the Declaration

• In February 1947, a group consisting of Eleanor Roosevelt, Pen-Chun Chang and Charles Malik began drafting the International Bill of Human Rights.

• With the assistance of the UN Secretariat and because of a letter from the Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights to the President of the Economic and Social Council, the drafting committee was enlarged.

• It was then composed of the members of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) for Australia, China, Chile, France, Lebanon, the US, the UK, and the USSR.

The first draft sent out to the UN member States was drafted by:

• Eleanor Roosevelt (US), Chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights

• René Cassin (France), Member of the Commission on Human Rights

• Dr. Charles Malik (Lebanon), Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights

• Dr. Peng-chun Chang (China), Vice-Chair of the Commission on Human Rights

• John P. Humphrey (Canada), Director, UN Division of Human Rights

• William Hodgson (Australia), Member of the Commission on Human Rights

• Hernan Santa Cruz (Chile), Member of the CHR

• Alexandre Bogomolov (USSR), Member of the CHR

• Charles Dukes (United Kingdom), Member of the CHR

A few interesting extracts from the Declaration

Article 10

Everyone has the right to a fair and impartial trial and verdict by an independent and impartial jury.

Article 11

11.1 Right to presumption of innocence.

11.2 No one shall be guilty of an offence (or any criminal act) that didn’t constitute an offence at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than one that was applicable at the time the offence was committed.

Article 18

Right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion (to have, change, practice, worship, teach and manifestation alone or in a group).

Article 19

Right to freedom of opinion and expression (freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information/ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers).

Article 21

21.1 Right to take part in the government of their country (directly or indirectly).

21.2 Right to equal access to public service in their country.

21.3 The basis of the authority of government shall be the will of the people, expressed in periodic and genuine elections by universal and equal suffrage and held by a secret vote (or another equivalent).

Article 23

23.2 Right to equal pay for equal work.

Article 24

Right to rest and leisure, reasonable working hours and periodic paid holidays.

Article 26

26.1 Right to education. Education should be free (in the elementary and fundamental stages). Elementary education shall be compulsory. HIgher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

Access the full text of the Declaration

* Thank you for reading. Please note that at no point in this blog am I providing legal advice or claiming to be a professional. These blogs are for entertainment and educational purposes only.*