As the world celebrates the 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in an era of spreading nationalism and gross violations, it is fair to ask whether the global human rights movement has improved the human condition, and define its role in the 21st Century. The Universal…
As the world celebrates the 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in an era of spreading nationalism and gross violations, it is fair to ask whether the global human rights movement has improved the human condition, and define its role in the 21st Century.
Background
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a historic document that was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly at its third session on 10 December 1948 as Resolution 217. The Declaration emerged from the horrors of World War II, which resulted in more than 65 million deaths, including six million Jews and hundreds of thousands of others who were systematically murdered during the Holocaust.
It consists of 30 articles affirming individual rights which, although not legally binding in themselves, have been elaborated in subsequent international treaties, economic transfers, regional human rights instruments, national constitutions, and other laws. The Declaration was the first step in the process of formulating the International Bill of Human Rights, which was completed in 1966, and came into force in 1976 after a sufficient number of countries had ratified them. Some legal scholars have argued that because countries have constantly invoked the Declaration for more than 50 years, it has become binding as a part of customary international law.
Analysis
10 December 2018 marks the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly. At the time of its signing, Eleanor Roosevelt, who led the effort, called the UDHR a “Magna Carta for all mankind.”
The Declaration broke new ground in two important ways. First, it made human rights universal, asserting that all people are entitled to these protections by virtue of their humanity. It formalised the concept of inalienable rights that individuals are born with. Secondly, the UNDHR outlines the international responsibility to protect rights; when gross human rights abuses occur in one country, other states have a responsibility to respond. While the implementation of this doctrine is challenging, human rights concerns are now a routine feature of international diplomacy and political discourse; recent examples include global attention to attacks against the Rohingya in Myanmar and the response to the Khashoggi murder involving Saudi Arabia.
Over the decades, the UDHR has passed from being an aspirational treatise into a set of standards that have permeated virtually every area of international law. It has withstood the tests of the passing years, and the advent of dramatic new technologies and social, political and economic developments that its drafters could not have foreseen.
The Universal Declaration has given lawmakers the principles needed to govern artificial intelligence and the digital world and lays out a framework of responses that can be used to counter the effects of climate change on people. In the decades that followed adoption of the declaration, the framework has contributed to a range of positive changes. In the 1970s, most Latin American governments, including those of major countries like Brazil and Argentina, were military dictatorships. South Africans were living under apartheid, the government-sanctioned racial division and discrimination. Northern Ireland was engulfed in religiously motivated violence that tore that society apart. Hundreds of millions of people were living under the repressive rule of the former Soviet Union, and many thousands were detained in brutal gulags. In places like Uganda and Cambodia, diabolical leaders were subjecting their people to mass violence and even genocide. Most of these conditions have now lifted.
While gross violations continue in too many places, indigenous human rights activists now document what is happening and advocate on behalf of those who are most vulnerable in their societies.
Counterpoint
There are now more than 65 million individuals fleeing conflicts or massive rights violations: the largest number since World War II. Historically, the United States has been a leader in granting safe asylum, but last year accepted only 22,000 refugees, the lowest number in 40 years. The genocide in Myanmar, the humanitarian crisis in Yemen and war crimes against civilians in Syria and across the middle east, and the hostility asylum seekers around the world are a devastating set back. Governments around the world have attempted to stifle dissent, crack down on press freedom, and end policies that tackle climate change. If these aberrations are not addressed, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights may find itself relegated to the back pages of history.
Assessment
Our assessment is that the anniversary of the Universal Declaration is a reminder that working on human rights is an evolving process, with more stakeholders than we have seen in the past; we feel that a global change must begin at the grassroots. We believe that while most countries have adopted the declaration, the implementation of human rights must be strengthened and reinforced, and featured in the legislature of individual nations.
India Watch
It is primarily due to the Indian drafter Hansa Mehta, that the French phrase “all men are born free and equal,” became in the Universal Declaration “all human beings are born free and equal.”
A simple phrase, but revolutionary in terms of women’s rights and of minority rights.
India’s human rights record has suffered in the past year: in 2018, activists in India have been harassed and sometimes arrested, independent media houses and NGOs have been raided, and free speech has been restricted.
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