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