Universal Declaration of Human Rights

A 1948 United Nations declaration that sets out fundamental human rights and freedoms as a common standard for all peoples and nations.

Eleanor Roosevelt: An American diplomat who chaired the United Nations Commission on Human Rights during the declaration’s drafting. As commission chair, she helped guide negotiations toward a text states could adopt.
Human rights: Rights understood as belonging to every person by virtue of being human. The declaration gives this broad idea a detailed catalogue and shared wording.
United Nations General Assembly: The United Nations’ main deliberative body, where all member states have representation. The Assembly adopted the declaration in Paris on 10 December 1948.
European Convention on Human Rights: A 1950 treaty protecting civil and political rights in Council of Europe member states. Its postwar rights framework developed in the declaration’s international climate.
Treaty: A written agreement between states governed by international law. Unlike a treaty, the declaration was adopted as a General Assembly resolution, not as a ratifiable agreement.
John Humphrey: A Canadian legal scholar who directed the United Nations Division of Human Rights and prepared an early draft of the declaration. His research draft supplied an essential starting point for the text.
Human dignity: The inherent worth of every person, often treated as a foundation for equal rights. The preamble grounds the declaration’s rights in recognition of human dignity.
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: A 1966 treaty that binds its parties to protect specified civil and political rights. It turned many declaration principles into treaty obligations for states that ratify it.
American Convention on Human Rights: A 1969 regional treaty establishing human-rights obligations for its parties in the Americas. It reflects the wider postwar movement to convert proclaimed rights into regional legal commitments.
Declaration (international law): A formal international statement of principles that is generally not itself a treaty. This instrument illustrates how declarations can guide conduct without creating treaty obligations by themselves.

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