The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

What do you think human rights are What do you think human rights are? Why do you think we have human rights? Do we need them? Did we in the past? Will we in the future? Before we get started, what do you already know about human rights? Even (or maybe espececially) if you don’t think you know anything about the declaration, what do you think the rights are? Why do you think we have them? The declaration is about 70 years old now – do we still need them? Was there ever a time where we didn’t need them? Will there ever be a time where we won’t need them?

Brief History The Cyrus Cylinder, 539 B.C. Natural law Magna Carta, 1215 World War II and the founding of the United Nations, 1945 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 Before going into the details of the declaration, let us take a quick look at what the history of the idea behind having human rights is: The idea of every human having basic rights started in ancient Persia, about 2600 years ago when Cyrus the Great freed slaves, gave people the rights such as the right to choose their own religion, and he established racial equality. These rights were written on a clay cylinder that you can see on the picture on this slide. The idea spread to India, Greece and Rome. Once it reached Rome, the concept of what became known as “natural law” arose. According to natural law, there are some universal standard, and the morals and ethics of these are a rational part of our human nature. Later, the document Magna Carta was published by the English king – granting the people with some of the same rights as we find in the human rights today – like equality before the law. The principles of human rights and civil liberties is apparent in many constitutions, and early documents leading up to the official constitutions of different countries. In 1945, right as World War II drew to an end, delegates from 50 countries met in San Francisco with hope to found an organization that could promote peace and prevent future wars. Part of the original function of the UN was “promoting and encouraging respect for human rights,” but these were not yet defined. In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was drafted. It is this declaration and its articles that we are discussing today.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights December 10, 1948 Eleanor Roosevelt 8 other representatives On December 10, 1948, the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It took Eleanor Roosevelt (then widow of American President Roosevelt) and a group of 8 men from different countries two years before they had a draft they could all agree on. Among others, the eight representatives represented the UN secretariat, France, Lebanon, Republic of China, and India.

Why Human Rights? “Whereas 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, Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people” The declaration was the first official document to state that all humans had basic rights. In the declaration, the General Assembly described the need for adopting a set of rules on universal human rights (see slide). Again, remember that this was right after World War II.

Upholding Human Rights Not legally binding 9 Core International Human Rights Instruments Every member state reviewed every four years The declaration is not legally binding, which has led to expanding it with binding conventions – these are the core international human rights instruments. There are 9 of these core conventions: International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Convention on the Rights of the Child International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Not all member states of the UN have ratified all conventions but the UN is working to make that happen. To make sure that the countries are acting in accordance with the human rights, different control mechanisms have been developed in the UN-system. An example of such is the Universal Periodic Review, where the ability to uphold the human rights of every individual memberstate is examined every four years.

Article 1 “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” This is the first article of the declaration. It can be seen as the worldview that is the foundation of the thought behind creating human rights. To do so, one must believe that every human being should share some basic, innate rights – because they are all human.

Article 2 (first half) “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.” This is the first half of article 2 of the declaration. This is what makes the declaration human rights – that they are the rights of every human, no matter their identity. There is a total of 30 articles, and the rest of them are more concrete.

Article 3: Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. Article 4: No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms. Article 5: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment These are some examples of the 30 articles that are meant to ensure that every human being can live a safe life, and a life in dignity.

Article 24 & 26 Article 24: Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay. Article 26: (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. (…) (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children. Some of the articles – like articles 24 and 26 go beyond ensuring life and security. They may seem to go beyond what should be considered basic human rights – but maybe only if you have never had to experience mssing these rights? What do you think?

Are some of the human rights more important than others Are some of the human rights more important than others? Should we protect all rights equally? Why/why not? Is a right only as important as it is necessary? Imagine a world without the rights that you might find less important. What would that world look like? What rights would you include? Questions for a discussion