Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of
Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document in
the history of human rights. Drafted by
representatives with different legal and
cultural backgrounds from all regions of the
world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the
United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10
December 1948 (General Assembly resolution 217
A) as a common standard of achievements for all
peoples and all nations. It sets out, for the
first time, fundamental human rights to be
universally protected and it has been translated
into over 500 languages. The UDHR is widely
recognized as having inspired, and paved the way
for, the adoption of more than seventy human
rights treaties, applied today on a permanent
basis at global and regional levels (all
containing references to it in their preambles).
Preamble
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.
Article 1
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, color,
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
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 defense. 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 honor and reputation. Everyone
has the right to the protection of the law
against such interference or attacks.
Article
13
Everyone has the right to freedom of
movement and residence within the borders of
each state. Everyone has the right to leave
any country, including his own, and to return to
his country.
Article 14
Everyone
has the right to seek and to enjoy in other
countries asylum from persecution. 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
Everyone has the right to a
nationality. No one shall be arbitrarily
deprived of his nationality nor denied the right
to change his nationality.
Article 16
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. Marriage shall be entered into
only with the free and full consent of the
intending spouses. The family is the natural
and fundamental group unit of society and is
entitled to protection by society and the State.
Article 17
Everyone has the right to
own property alone as well as in association
with others. 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
Everyone has the right to
freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
No one may be compelled to belong to an
association.
Article 21
Everyone
has the right to take part in the government of
his country, directly or through freely chosen
representatives. Everyone has the right of
equal access to public service in his country.
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
Everyone has the right to work, to
free choice of employment, to just and favorable
conditions of work and to protection against
unemployment. Everyone, without any
discrimination, has the right to equal pay for
equal work. Everyone who works has the right
to just and favorable remuneration ensuring for
himself and his family an existence worthy of
human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary,
by other means of social protection. 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
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. 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
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. 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. Parents
have a prior right to choose the kind of
education that shall be given to their children.
Article 27
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.
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
Everyone
has duties to the community in which alone the
free and full development of his personality is
possible. 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. 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.
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