INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY -
DECEMBER 10
_____________________________________________________________
UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN
RIGHTS
The
Universal Declaration of Human Rights is generally agreed to be the foundation
of international human rights law.
Over time, international human rights treaties have become more focused and
specialized regarding both the issue addressed and the social groups identified
as requiring protection. The body of international human rights law continues
to grow, evolve, and further elaborate the fundamental rights and freedoms
contained in the International Bill of Human Rights, addressing concerns such as
racial discrimination, torture, enforced disappearances, disabilities, and the
rights of women, children, migrants, minorities, and indigenous peoples. http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/hr_law.shtml
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"Everyone
is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration,
without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion,
political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other
status."
Universal
Declaration of Human Rights
Whereas
recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of
all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace
in the world,
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous
acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world
in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from
fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common
people,
Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as
a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights
should be protected by the rule of law,
Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations
between nations,
Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed
their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human
person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote
social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,
Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation
with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance
of human rights and fundamental freedoms,
Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the
greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,
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.
- 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.
Article 2.
- Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set
forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race,
colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or
social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no
distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or
international status of the country or territory to which a person
belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any
other limitation of sovereignty.
Article
3.
- Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of
person.
Article
4.
- No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery
and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
Article
5.
- No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article
6.
- Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a
person before the law.
Article
7.
- All are equal before the law and are entitled without
any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to
equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this
Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
Article
8.
- Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the
competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights
granted him by the constitution or by law.
Article
9.
- No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest,
detention or exile.
Article
10.
- Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and
public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the
determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge
against him.
Article
11.
- (1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right
to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public
trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
- (2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on
account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence,
under national or international law, at the time when it was committed.
Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at
the time the penal offence was committed.
Article
12.
- No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference
with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour
and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law
against such interference or attacks.
Article
13.
- (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and
residence within the borders of each state.
- (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country,
including his own, and to return to his country.
Article
14.
- (1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in
other countries asylum from persecution.
- (2) This right may not be invoked in the case of
prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts
contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article
15.
- (1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.
- (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his
nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.
Article
16.
- (1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation
due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found
a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during
marriage and at its dissolution.
- (2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free
and full consent of the intending spouses.
- (3) The family is the natural and fundamental group
unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.
Article
17.
- (1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as
well as in association with others.
- (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his
property.
Article
18.
- Everyone has the right to freedom of thought,
conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his
religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others
and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching,
practice, worship and observance.
Article
19.
- Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and
expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without
interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through
any media and regardless of frontiers.
Article
20.
- (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful
assembly and association.
- (2) No one may be compelled to belong to an
association.
Article
21.
- (1) Everyone has the right to take part in the
government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
- (2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public
service in his country.
- (3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the
authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and
genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall
be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.
Article
22.
- Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to
social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort
and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and
resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights
indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.
Article
23.
- (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of
employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection
against unemployment.
- (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right
to equal pay for equal work.
- (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and
favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence
worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of
social protection.
- (4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade
unions for the protection of his interests.
Article
24.
- Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including
reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.
Article
25.
- (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living
adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family,
including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social
services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment,
sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in
circumstances beyond his control.
- (2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special
care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock,
shall enjoy the same social protection.
Article
26.
- (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education
shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages.
Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education
shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally
accessible to all on the basis of merit.
- (2) Education shall be directed to the full development
of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human
rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance
and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall
further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
- (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of
education that shall be given to their children.
Article
27.
- (1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the
cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in
scientific advancement and its benefits.
- (2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the
moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or
artistic production of which he is the author.
Article
28.
- Everyone is entitled to a social and international
order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can
be fully realized.
Article
29.
- (1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone
the free and full development of his personality is possible.
- (2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms,
everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by
law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the
rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of
morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
- (3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be
exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article
30.
- Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as
implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any
activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the
rights and freedoms set forth herein.