1948 December 10

Human Rights Day – Universal Declaration of Human Rights Adopted

 

Human Rights Day is celebrated to mark the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights  by the United Nations Assembly on this day.

Eleanor Roosevelt played a major role in the drafting and adoption of the Universal Declaration.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights served as the model for the many international human rights declarations, covenants, and conventions that were adopted by the United Nations in the decades following World War II. These statements were based on the principle that human rights were best protected by a written document (or constitution, in American terms) and that human rights were best defined in terms of individual rights, principally freedom of speech, press, assembly, and religion.

See also the United Nations Convention Against Genocide (1988), Convention Against Racial Discrimination (1994), and the Convention Against Torture (1994).

The Preamble to the Universal Declaration (excerpt):

“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.”

Read the full Universal Declaration: http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml

Read Eleanor Roosevelt’s December 9, 1948 Speech: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/eleanorrooseveltdeclarationhumanrights.htm

Learn more  about Roosevelt’s role in the drafting of the Universal Declaration: Mary Ann Glendon, A World Made New: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (2001)

Hear ACLU Director Anthony Romero give his Human Rights Day message: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5JIrzf1KaU

Find a Day

Go
Abortion Rights ACLU african-americans Alice Paul anti-communism Anti-Communist Hysteria Birth Control Brown v. Board of Education Censorship CIA Civil Rights Civil Rights Act of 1964 Cold War Espionage Act FBI First Amendment Fourteenth Amendment freedom of speech Free Speech Gay Rights Hate Speech homosexuality Hoover, J. Edgar HUAC Japanese American Internment King, Dr. Martin Luther Ku Klux Klan Labor Unions Lesbian and Gay Rights Loyalty Oaths McCarthy, Sen. Joe New York Times Obscenity Police Misconduct Same-Sex Marriage Separation of Church and State Sex Discrimination Smith Act Spying Spying on Americans Vietnam War Voting Rights Voting Rights Act of 1965 War on Terror Watergate White House Women's Rights Women's Suffrage World War I World War II Relocation Camps

Topics

Tell Us What You Think

We want to hear your comments, criticisms and suggestions!