Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) is one of the milestones in History of humankind endeavoring to protect the rights of the individual throughout the globe. Although human rights are violated in many parts of the world, the declaration stands apart from any other similar documents pertaining to human rights issues. Of course, the declaration was not the first effort toward protecting human rights. In earlier times, there was the Hammurabi Code and Justinian Codes. England promulgated human liberties in Magna Carta (1215), habeas corpus (1674) and the Bill of Rights (1689). The Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution (1776) heavily influenced the declaration. Likewise, the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789) during the French Revolution inspired the declaration. The Napoleonic Code (1804) had enshrined unalienable rights of humankind.

The codification of human rights became an important issue after the Holocaust and devastation during the World War II. The American President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four freedoms, freedom of speech and belief, as well as freedom from fear and want, also became guiding principles behind the declaration. The Charter of the United Nations, signed on June 26, 1945, put the promotion of human rights as one of the purposes of the international body. It asked the member states to respect human rights and fundamental freedom for all. Article 68 of the charter mentioned the Commission on Human Rights By name to be set up By the Economic and Social Council.

The chairperson of the interim nine-member commission (April 1946) was Franklin D. Roosevelt. Rene Cassin of France and K. C. Neyogi from India were vice chairperson and rapporteur, respectively. Afterward, a new 18-member Commission of Human Rights was established. The three influential members were P. C. Chang (China), Rene Cassin (France, and who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1968), and Charles H. Malik of Lebanon. The latter, who became the president of the Economic and Social Council (1948), played a major role in deliberations. The eight-member drafting committee prepared a draft International Declaration of Human Rights By June 1948. There was much debate over various issues in the climate of the Cold War.

The Soviet Union, along with Belorussia, Ukraine, and Yugoslavia, emphasized the duty of the individual to the state and the priority of economic as well as social rights over individual rights. In spite of ideological differences, the General Assembly of the United Nations meeting at Palais de Chaillot in Paris adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948, proclaiming it as “a common standard of achievements for all peoples of all nations.” Some 48 countries supported it, and eight countries (Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the Soviet bloc) were absent from the voting. There was not a single dissenting vote. During preliminary voting of each article By the General Assembly, 23 out of 30 articles witnessed no abstentions. Encompassing a broad spectrum of political, economic, social, and cultural rights, the declaration consisted of a preamble and 30 articles. The document was translated into 407 languages and proclaimed that all human beings were born with “equal and inalienable rights and fundamental freedoms.”

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