1. Education for Justice (E4J)
Integrity and Ethics
Module 2: Ethics and Universal Values

2. Universal Declaration of Human Rights UDHR

3. UDHR Proposed by UN General Assembly 1946
Economic and Social Council tasks Commission on Human Rights to formulate declaration
Commission creates committee of 8 members to draft document, chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt
UNESCO solicits views from international scholars
Adopted by the UN General Assembly December 1948

4. UDHR Preamble and 30 articles Not legally binding (not a treaty)
‘Conscience of humanity’
Dignity just as central as rights

5. UDHR Part of the ‘International Bill of Human Rights’
International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
Optional Protocols to ICCPR
Other legally binding treaties (Genocide, rights of children, etc)

6. UDHR Human rights institutions Regional institutions
UN Human Rights Council
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Universal Periodic Review
Regional institutions

7. UDHR
UNESCO Committee
1947 UNESCO solicits feedback from philosophers, political theorists, and theologians
Results given to committee writing the UDHR, and published as a book in 1948

8. UDHR
‘It is related that at one of the meetings of a UNESCO National Commission where Human Rights were being discussed, someone expressed astonishment that certain champions of violently opposed ideologies had agreed on a list of those rights. “Yes,” they said, “we agree about the rights, but on condition that no one asks us why.” That “why” is where the argument begins.” Jacques Maritain, ‘Introduction’ Human Rights: Comments and Interpretations (UNESCO, 1948)

9. Members of the Drafting Committee
UDHR
Members of the Drafting Committee
Eleanor Roosevelt, former First Lady (Chair)
Charles Malik, Lebanese Christian scholar and diplomat
Peng Chun Chang, Chinese Confucian scholar
John Humphreys, Canadian diplomat

10. Philosophical Disagreements
UDHR
Philosophical Disagreements
Article 1: All human beings are both free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience [by nature] and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood
Chung insisted no mention of God or nature; Malik strongly argued for mention of both
Phrase ‘by nature’ was in an earlier draft, but removed on Chung’s insistence; argued it would make the document more universal

11. UDHR Questions Rights without foundations? Rights or duties?
Universal or lowest common denominator?