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UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
SUMMARY
(written by young people)
Adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 10, 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes the dignity of all human beings. It aims to ensure that their inalienable rights are protected worldwide. The document was adopted by 48 votes with eight Member States abstaining: South Africa and Saudi Arabia because they thought the Declaration was too progressive, the socialists states Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Poland, Ukrainian SSR and the USSR because they thought the Declaration was not progressive enough. Today, forty-six years later, the Declaration remains a vital tool for the protection of all people and a necessary foundation as we strive alongside the United Nations for “freedom, justice and peace in the world.”
The first section of the Declaration is a Preamble of seven statements advocating for the protection of rights by law, the principles of the United Nations Charter, social progress, better standards of life and respect for the observance of all human rights and fundamental freedoms.
This is a summary of the 30 Articles in the Declaration describing fundamental human rights:
1. All human are born free and equal and should treat each other “in a spirit of brotherhood.”
2. All people, regardless of color, sex, language, beliefs, property, status or any other kind of distinction, are entitled to all the rights outlined in this Declaration.
3. “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.”
4. No one shall be held in slavery or servitude.
5. “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
6. “Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.”
7-11. “All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination” to fair treatment by the law.
12. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against “interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence” and “attacks upon his honor and reputation.”
13. Everyone has the right ot freedom on movement within, into and out of any country.
14. “Everyone has the right to seek and enjoy in other countries freedom from persecution.”
15. “Everyone has the right to a nationality.”
16. Adult men and women have “the right to marry and found a family.”
17. Everyone has the right to own property.
18-19. Everyone has the right to freedom of “thought, conscience and religion” and of “opinion and expression.”
20. “Everyone has the right to peaceful assembly and association.”
21. “Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives” elected by “universal and equal suffrage.”
22. Everyone has the right to “social security and is entitled to the realization...of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.”
23. “Everyone has the right to work” and to fair conditions of employment.
24. “Everyone has the right to rest and leisure.”
25. Everyone is entitled to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family.
26. “Everyone has the right to education.”
27. “Everyone has the right to freely participate in the cultural life of the community” and also to “the protection of the moral and material interest resulting from any...production of which he is the author.”
28. “Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.”
29. “Everyone has duties to the community.” Also, everyone must respect the rights of others and contribute to “the general welfare in a democratic society.”
30. Nothing in this Declaration gives anyone any right to do anything which would go against any of the rights previously stated.
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