The 10th December 2023, Human Rights Day, marks 75 years since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
Key points
- This milestone document set out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected.
- A relatively compact document, the declaration consists of a preamble and 30 articles setting out fundamental rights and freedoms.
- The Declaration is the most translated document in the world, available in more than 500 languages.
- Adopted by General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) on 10 December 1948, it is still just as relevant in our world today.
- The 75th anniversary comes as human rights are challenged in the war between Israel and Hamas, Russia’s war in Ukraine, internal conflicts in Myanmar and Sudan and in a host of other places and situations.
- A relatively compact document, the declaration consists of a preamble and 30 articles setting out fundamental rights and freedoms.
- Article 1 states that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”
- Article 2 says that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms the declaration sets out, “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.”
- The declaration isn’t a treaty and isn’t legally binding in itself, but the principles it sets out have been incorporated into many countries’ laws and it is viewed as the basis for international human rights law.
- It is recognized as having inspired and paved the way for more than 70 human rights treaties at global and regional levels, according to the U.N.
