Human Security For All: A Tribute to Sergio Vieira de Mello

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: A Magna Carta for All Humanity

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: A Magna Carta for All Humanity Some 50 years have elapsed since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations on 10 December 1948. The Declaration was one of the first major achievements of the United Nations, and after 50 years remains a powerful instrument which continues to exert an enormous effect on people’s lives all over the world. This was the first time in history that a document considered to have universal value was adopted by an international organization. It was also the first time that human rights and fundamental freedoms were set forth in such detail. There was broad-based international support for the Declaration when it was adopted. It represented “a world milestone in the long struggle for human rights,” in the words of a UN General Assembly representative from France. The adoption of theUniversal Declaration stems in large part from the strong desire for peace in the aftermath of the Second World War. Although the 58 Member States which formed the United Nations at that time varied in their ideologies, political systems and religious and cultural backgrounds and had different patterns of socio-economic development , the Universal Declaration of Human Rights represented a common statement of goals and aspirations—a vision of the world as the international community would want it to become. Since 1948, the Universal Declaration has been translated into more than 200 languages and remains one of the best known and most often cited human rights documents in the world. Over the years, the Declaration has been used in the defense and advancement of people’s rights. Its principles have been enshrined in and continue to inspire national legislation and the constitutions of many newly independent states. Refcahill .qxp 10/1/2004 1:36 PM Page 249 erences to the Declaration have been made in charters and resolutions of regional intergovernmental organizations as well as in treaties and resolutions adopted by the United Nations system. The year 1998 marks the fiftieth anniversary of this “Magna Carta for all humanity.” The theme of the fiftieth anniversary—”All Human Rights for All”— highlights the universality, the indivisibility, and the interrelationship of all human rights. It reinforces the idea that human rights— civil, cultural, economic, political, and social—should be taken in their totality and not disassociated from one another. DRAFTING AND ADOPTING THE DECLARATION, A LONG AND ARDUOUS TASK When created in 1946, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights was composed of 18 Member States. During its first sessions, the main item on the agenda was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Commission set up a drafting committee which devoted itself exclusively to preparing the draft of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The drafting committee was composed of eight persons, from Australia, Chile, China, France, Lebanon, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The United Nations Secretariat, under the guidance of John Humphrey, drafted the outline (400 pages in length) to serve as the basic working paper of the Committee. During the two-year drafting process of the Universal Declaration, the drafters maintained a common ground for discussions and a common goal: respect for fundamental rights and freedoms. Despite their conflicting views on certain questions, they agreed to include in the document the principles of non-discrimination, civil and political rights, and social and economic rights. They also agreed that the Declaration had to be universal. Personally dedicated to the task of preparing this Declaration Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, who chaired the Human Rights Commission in its first years, asked, “Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home — so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighbourhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; 250 APPENDICES cahill.qxp 10/1/2004 1:36 PM Page 250 the factory, farm or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerned citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.” On 10 December 1948, at the Palais de Chaillot in Paris...