The Second World War and the Holocaust showed the world what a state could do to its own people when nothing outside it could object. The United Nations, founded in 1945, committed itself in its Charter to promoting respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for everyone, without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion. But the Charter did not say what those rights were. A new body, the Commission on Human Rights, was asked to draft a list.

The drafters

The Commission was chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, widow of the American president Franklin Roosevelt, whose patience and public standing helped keep the work moving through deep disagreements. Other key figures included:

• John Humphrey, a Canadian lawyer at the UN, who prepared the first draft.
• René Cassin, a French jurist, who reshaped the draft into a structured whole. He later received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1968.
• P. C. Chang of China, who drew on Confucian thought and urged that the text not rest on any single philosophy.
• Charles Malik of Lebanon, a philosopher who pressed for the dignity of the individual person.
• Hansa Mehta of India, who successfully argued that Article 1 should say “all human beings,” not “all men.”

Adoption

On 10 December 1948, meeting in Paris, the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Forty-eight countries voted in favor, none against, and eight abstained (six communist states led by the Soviet Union, plus South Africa and Saudi Arabia). The date is now marked each year as Human Rights Day.

Article 1 sets the tone: “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.”

The thirty articles in outline

Cassin compared the Declaration to the portico of a temple. In rough outline:

• Articles 1 and 2: the foundations: dignity, equality and freedom from discrimination.
• Articles 3 to 11: rights of the person: life, liberty and security; no slavery; no torture; equality before the law; no arbitrary arrest; a fair trial; the presumption of innocence.
• Articles 12 to 17: rights in civil life: privacy, freedom of movement, asylum, nationality, marriage and property.
• Articles 18 to 21: spiritual and political rights: freedom of thought, conscience and religion; expression; peaceful assembly; and taking part in government through free elections.
• Articles 22 to 27: economic, social and cultural rights: social security, work and fair pay, rest and leisure, an adequate standard of living, education, and cultural life.
• Articles 28 to 30: the roof: a social and international order in which rights can be realized, duties to the community, and a rule that no article may be used to destroy the others.

Notice that the UDHR puts civil and political rights and economic and social rights side by side in one document, as parts of a single whole.

Binding or not?

The UDHR is a declaration adopted by a General Assembly resolution, not a treaty. It was not meant to be legally binding, and no court enforces it directly. Its force has come in other ways. It inspired dozens of national constitutions and later treaties that are binding. Many lawyers argue that some of its core principles, such as the bans on slavery and torture, have since become part of customary international law, which binds states whether or not they sign anything. And it has become a common reference point for activists, courts and governments around the world. It is among the most translated documents in existence.

Worked example: matching problems to articles

Practice using the UDHR's structure. For each situation, find the group of articles that applies.

1. A journalist is arrested without charge and held for months without seeing a judge. This falls under Articles 3 to 11: liberty and security of person, no arbitrary arrest, and a fair trial.
2. A family fleeing war is turned away at every border. Articles 12 to 17 include the right to seek asylum from persecution (Article 14).
3. A government bans a peaceful protest because it criticizes the president. Articles 18 to 21: freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
4. Children in a remote region have no school within a day's walk. Articles 22 to 27: the right to education (Article 26).
5. A group uses freedom of speech to organize the violent removal of a minority's rights. Article 30: no right in the Declaration may be used to destroy the others.

Notice two things. First, the Declaration covers very different kinds of harm, from prison cells to classrooms, as parts of one framework. Second, it does not itself tell you what to do next. Because it is not binding, the journalist cannot sue under the UDHR directly. She would need a national law, a binding treaty such as the ICCPR, or a regional court. The Declaration names the wrong; other parts of the system provide the remedy.