Human Rights

On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

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.

Article 2.

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. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

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.

Article 6.

Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Article 7.

All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Article 8.

Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

Article 9.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Article 10.

Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

Article 11.

(1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.

(2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

Article 12.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Article 13.

(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.

(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

Article 14.

(1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.

(2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 15.

(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.

(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

Article 16.

(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.

(2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.

(3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

Article 17.

(1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.

(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

Article 18.

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19.

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 20.

(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

(2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 21.

(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.

(2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.

(3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Article 22.

Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

Article 23.

(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.

(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.

(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.

(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Article 24.

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Article 25.

(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

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.

(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Article 27.

(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

(2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Article 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.

Article 29.

(1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.

(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.

(3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 30.

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

The Ongoing Global Struggle for Human Rights

Struggles and historical events	Conferences, documents and declarations	Institutions
THROUGH THE 17TH CENTURY
Many religious texts emphasize the importance of equality, dignity and responsibility to help others Over 3,000 years ago Hindu Vedas, Agamas and Upanishads; Judaic text the Torah 2,500 years ago Buddhist Tripitaka and A guttara-Nikaya and Confucianist Analects, Doctrine of the Mean and Great Learning 2,000 years ago Christian New Testament, and 600 years later, Islamic Qur’an	Codes of conduct-Menes, Asoka, Hammurabi, Draco, Cyrus, Moses, Solo and Manu 1215 Magna Carta signed, acknowledging that even a sovereign is not above the law 1625 Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius credited with birth of international law 1690 John Locke develops idea of natural rights in Second Treatise of Government
18TH-19TH CENTURIES
1789 The French Revolution and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen 1815 Slave revolts in Latin America and in France 1830s Movements for social and economic rights - Ramakrishna in India, religious movements in the West 1840 In Ireland the Chartist Movement demands universal suffrage and rights for workers and poor people 1847 Liberian Revolution 1861 Liberation from serfdom in Russia	1792 Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman 1860s In Iran Mirza Fath Ali Akhundzade and in China Tan Sitong argue for gender equality 1860s Rosa Guerra’s periodical La Camelia champions equality for women throughout Latin America 1860s In Japan Toshiko Kishida publishes an essay, I Tell You, My Fellow Sisters 1860-80 More than 50 bilateral treaties on abolition of the slave trade, in all regions	1809 Ombudsman institution established in Sweden 1815 Committee on the International Slave Trade Issue, at the Congress of Vienna 1839 Antislavery Society in Britain, followed in 1860s by Confederacao Abolicionista in Brazil 1863 International Committee of the Red Cross 1864 International Working Men’s Association 1898 League of Human Rights, an NGO, in response to the Dreyfus Affair
THE 20TH CENTURY 1900-29
1900-15 Colonized peoples rise up against imperialism in Asia and Africa 1905 Workers movements in Europe, India and the US; in Moscow 300,000 workers demonstrate 1910 Peasants mobilize for land rights in Mexico 1914-18 First World War 1914 onward Independence movements and riots in Europe, Africa and Asia 1915 Massacres of Armenians by the Turks 1917 Russian Revolution 1919 Widespread protests against the exclusion of racial equality from the Covenant of the League of Nations 1920s Campaigns for women’s rights to contraceptive in formation by Ellen Key, Margaret Sanger, Shizue Ishimoto 1920s General strikes and armed conflict between workers and owners in industrialized world	1900 First Pan-African Congress in London 1906 International convention prohibitinng night work for women in industrial employment 1907 Central American Peace Conference provides for aliens’ right to appeal to courts where they reside 1916 Self-determination addressed in Lenin’s Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism 1918 Self-determination addressed in Wilson’s “Fourteen Points” 1919 Versailles Treaty stresses right to self-determination and minority rights 1919 Pan-African Congress demands right to self-determination in colonial possessions 1923 Fifth Conference of the American Republics, in Santiago, Chile, addresses women’s rights 1924 Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child 1924 US Congress approves Snyder Act, granting all Native Americans full citizenship 1926 Geneva Conference adopts Slavery Convention	1902 International Alliance for Suffrage and equal Citizenship 1905 Trade unions form international federations 1910 International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union 1919 League of Nations and Court of International Justice 1919 International Labour Organization (ILO), to advocate human rights embodied in labour law 1919 Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom 1919 NGOs devoted to women’s rights start addressing children’s rights; Save the Children (UK) 1922 Fourteen National human rights leagues establish International Federation of Human Rights Leagues 1920s National Congress of British West Africa in Accra, to promote self-determination 1925 Representatives of eight developing countries found Coloured International to end racial discrimination 1928 Inter-American Commission on Women, to ensure recognition of women’s civil and political rights
1930-49
1930 In India Gandhi leads hundreds on long march to Dandi to protest salt tax 1939-45 Hitler’s Nazi regime kills 6 million Jews and forces into concentration camps and murders Gypsies, Communists, labour unionists, Poles, Ukrainia s, Kurds, Armenia s, disabled people, Jehovah’s Witnesses and homosexuals 1942 René Cassin of France urges creation of a international court to punish war crimes 1942 US government interns some 120,000 Japanese-Americans during Second World War 1942-45 Antifascist struggles in many European countries 1949 Chinese Revolution	1930 ILO Convention Concerning Forced or Compulsory Labour 1933 International Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women of Full Age 1941 US President Roosevelt identifies four essential freedoms - of speech and religion, from want and fear 1945 UN Charter, emphasizing human rights 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 ILO Convention on the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize 1949 ILO Convention on the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining	1933 Refugee Organization 1935-36 International Penal and Penitentiary Commission, to promote basic rights of prisoners 1945 Nuremberg and Tokyo trials 1945 United Nations 1946 UN Commission on Human Rights 1948 Organization of American States 1949 Council of Europe
1950-59
1950s National liberation wars and revolts in Asia; some African countries gain independence 1955 Political and civil rights movement in US; Martin Luther King Jr. leads the Montgomery bus boycott (381 days)	1950 European Convention on Human Rights 1951 ILO Equal Retribution Convention 1957 ILO Convention Concerning Abolition of Forced Labour 1958 ILO Convention Concerning Discrimination in Employment and Occupation	1950 ILO fact-finding commission deals with violations of trade union rights 1951 ILO Committee on Freedom of Association 1954 European Commission of Human Rights 1959 European Court of Human Rights
1960-69
1960s In Africa 17 countries secure right to self-determination, as do countries elsewhere 1962 National Farm Workers (United Farm Workers of America) organizes to protect migrant workers in US 1960s-70s Feminist movements demand equality	1965 UN International Convention on the limitation of All Forms of Racial Discrimination 1966 UN International Convention on Civil and Political Rights 1966 UN International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 1968 First World Conference on Huma Rights, in Tehran	1960 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights holds its first session 1961 Amnesty International 1963 Organization of African Unity 1967 Pontifical Commission for International Justice and Peace
1970-79
1970s Human rights issues attract broad attention - apartheid in South Africa, treatment of Palestinians in occupied territories, torture of political opponents in Chile, “dirty war” in Argentina, genocide in Cambodia 1970s People protest against Arab-Israeli conflict, Viet Nam war and Nigeria-Biafra civil war 1976 Amnesty International wins Nobel Peace prize	1973 UN International Convention on Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid 1973 ILO Minimum Age Convention 1974 World Food Conference in Rome 1979 UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)	1970 First commissions on peace and justice in Paraguay and Brazil 1978 Helsinki Watch (Human Rights Watch) 1979 Inter-American Court of Human Rights
1980-89
1980s Latin American dictatorships end - in Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay 1988 In the Philippines peaceful People’s Power Movement overthrows Marcos dictatorship 1989 Tiananmen Square 1989 Fall of the Berlin Wall	1981 African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights 1984 UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment 1986 UN Declaration on the Right to Development 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child	1983 Arab Organization for Human Rights 1985 UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 1988 Africa Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights
1990-2000
1990s Democracy spreads across Africa; Nelso Mandela released from prison and elected president of South Africa 1990s Ethnic cleansing in former Yugoslavia, and genocide and massive human rights violations in Rwanda 1998 Spain initiates extradition proceedings against General Pinochet of Chile 1999 Doctors without Borders wins Nobel Peace prize 2000 Court in Senegal charges former Chadian dictator Hissene Habre with “torture and barbarity”	1990-96 Global UN conferences and summits on the issues of children, education, environment and development, human rights, population, women, social development and human settlements 1998 Rome statute for establishing International Criminal Court 1999 CEDAW Optional Protocol for Individual Complaints 1999 ILO Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention	1992 First Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) High Commissioner for National Minorities 1993 First UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, appointed at the Vienna Conference 1993-94 International criminal tribunals for former Yugoslavia and Rwanda 1995 South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission 1995-99 Ten countries launch national plans of action for the protection and promotion of human rights

Excerpted from: http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr2000/