Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that answer the question.
Query: What year was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights published?
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a historic document that was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly at its third session on10 December 1948 as Resolution 217 at the Palais de Chaillot in Paris, France. Of the then 58 members of the United Nations, 48 voted in favor, none against, eight abstained, and two did not vote.[1]
Pursuant to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Human Rights Watch (HRW) opposes violations of what are considered basic human rights under the UDHR. This includes capital punishment and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. HRW advocates freedoms in connection with fundamental human rights, such as freedom of religion and freedom of the press. HRW seeks to achieve change by publicly pressuring governments and their policy makers to curb human rights abuses, and by convincing more powerful governments to use their influence on governments that violate human rights.
Van Dun sees human rights as fundamentally different from the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights". According to him when you have a right you have a right. Therefore, human rights are, e.g., the right of self-determination for one's own life, liberty and the products of one's liberty (property) and call these rights fundamental rights. This is not the case in the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights". He sees the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" equivalent to "Animal Rights", since the rights enumerated in the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" are sometimes conflicting with each other and many of these rights are only valid insofar as legislation of the government is not contradicting it. Therefore, he sees rulers which are acting as masters of the "human" animals (i.e. "slaves") in the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights".
The Philippines is a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) drafted by the United Nations (UN) in the 1948. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted, alongside the Genocide Convention and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, by the United Nations in response to the tragic and horrendous violations of human rights during the Second World War. The United Nations Charter, a treaty, was created in order to define what roles, powers, and duties the United Nations is allowed to practice in dealing with international relations. Article I of the UN Charter states that the UN aims: ""To achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion;""According to the Charter, the jurisdiction of the United Nations is to provide cooperation among the nations, and not act as an international government. The UN Charter paved the way for the drafting of the UDHR. The UDHR aims to promote "universal respect for, and the observance of, human rights." Thus, the UDHR is merely a declaration for each signatory to adopt to its own political system. The significance of the UDHR as stated in its Preamble is: ""Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge.""As a signatory to the UDHR, the Philippines then declares an understanding and adherence of these fundamental and inalienable rights to its population. The Philippines has adhered to the UDHR through the Bill of Rights, and continued to create laws and policies that cater to a specific sector, like the Labor Code and the Indigenous Peoples' Rights.
During this period, he was involved in many human rights projects, including the organisation of the first summit on human rights defenders in Paris in 1998. This event was held as the world celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with more than 350 human rights defenders attending the summit. The presence of Kofi Annan, then Secretary General of the United Nations, drew significant attention on the event. Jacques Chirac and Lionel Jospin, then French President and Prime Minister respectively, intervened during the closing session, reaffirming France's commitment to the protection of human rights defenders. On 9 December 1998, in New York, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, now commonly known as the Declaration on human rights defenders. That same year, human rights defenders were to receive the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights.
At the Swanwick Conference in England in 1949 - as the United Nations was settling its Universal Declaration of Human Rights - the IU published a principle and policy pamphlet that later came to be known as its Declaration of Human Rights on Equal Freedom. This Declaration was translated into many languages, and subsequently amended and reaffirmed; most recently in 2001.
An edited book of essays entitled "Contemporary Human Rights Challenges: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its Continuing Relevance" was published in Nathan's memory to mark the 70th Anniversary (10 December 2018) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.The book's foreword is written by UNESCO Secretary General Audrey Azoulay and contains 18 essays including ones by Lord Williams and President Jimmy Carter.
The Declaration of Human Rights Day is commemorated every year onDecember 10, the anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration, and is known as Human Rights Day or International Human Rights Day. The commemoration is observed by individuals, community and religious groups, human rights organizations, parliaments, governments, and the United Nations. Decadal commemorations are often accompanied by campaigns to promote awareness of the Declaration and human rights. 2008 marked the 60th anniversary of the Declaration, and was accompanied by year-long activities around the theme "Dignity and justice for all of us".[32]
The United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights can be read as assuming a kind of moral universalism. The drafting committee of the Universal Declaration did assume, or at least aspired to, a "universal" approach to articulating international human rights. Although the Declaration has undeniably come to be accepted throughout the world as a cornerstone of the international system for the protection of human rights, a belief among some that the Universal Declaration does not adequately reflect certain important worldviews has given rise to more than one supplementary declaration, such as the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam and the Bangkok Declaration.
Before taking power Khomeini expressed support for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, "We would like to act according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We would like to be free. We would like independence.", However once in power Khomeini took a firm line against dissent, warning opponents of theocracy for example: "I repeat for the last time: abstain from holding meetings, from blathering, from publishing protests. Otherwise I will break your teeth." Khomeini believed that since Islamic government was essential for Islam, what threatened the government threatened Islam.
Today the most influential document used to determine what qualifies as human rights and how to implement these ideas and rights into everyday life is the Universal Declaration. The declaration was adopted by the General Assembly in 1948, making December 10 annual Human Rights Day ever since. To this day the 30 article compilation is seen as “a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations”.
1968 was declared the International Year of Human Rights by UNESCO, with the principal goal of bringing attention to the state of human rights throughout the world. On its XX session on March 17-18, 1964 United Nations Commission on Human Rights considered United Nations General Assembly Eighteenth session decision to proclaim International Year of Human Rights and recommended the establishment of the committee for preparation of celebration of 20th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and organisation of an international conference on human rights.
The Commission established a special Universal Declaration of Human Rights Drafting Committee, chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, to write the articles of the Declaration. The Committee met in two sessions over the course of two years.
In contrast to neo-principalists, principalists accepts the ideas of democracy and UDHR. During his lifetime, Ayatollah Khomeini expressed support for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; in "Sahifeh Nour" (Vol.2 Page 242), he states: "We would like to act according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We would like to be free. We would like independence." However, Iran adopted an "alternative" human rights declaration, the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam, in 1990 (one year after Khomeini's death).
During the lead up to the World Conference on Human Rights held in 1993, ministers from Asian states adopted the Bangkok Declaration, reaffirming their governments' commitment to the principles of the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They stated their view of the interdependence and indivisibility of human rights and stressed the need for universality, objectivity, and non-selectivity of human rights. However, at the same time, they emphasized the principles of sovereignty and non-interference, calling for greater emphasis on economic, social, and cultural rights—in particular, the right to economic development over civil and political rights. The Bangkok Declaration is considered to be a landmark expression of the Asian values perspective, which offers an extended critique of human rights universalism.[63]
What needs to be pointed out to those who uphold the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to be the highest, or sole, model, of a charter of equality and liberty for all human beings, is that given the Western origin and orientation of this Declaration, the "universality" of the assumptions on which it is based is–at the very least–problematic and subject to questioning. Furthermore, the alleged incompatibility between the concept of human rights and religion in general, or particular religions such as Islam, needs to be examined in an unbiased way.[55]
In honor of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations declared 1968 as the "International Year for Human Rights". In April Natalya Gorbanevskaya compiled the first issue of the "Chronicle of Current Events". Its cover (dated 30 April 1968) carried the title: "The International Year for Human Rights in the Soviet Union" and, like every subsequent issue of the "Chronicle", quoted the text of Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
Some widely held interpretations of Islam are inconsistent with Human Rights conventions that recognize the right to change religion. In particular article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
states:
To implement this, Article 18 (2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states:
The right for Muslims to change their religion is not afforded by the Iranian Shari'ah law, which specifically forbids it. In 1981, the Iranian representative to the United Nations, Said Rajaie-Khorassani, articulated the position of his country regarding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, by saying that the UDHR was "a secular understanding of the Judeo-Christian tradition", which could not be implemented by Muslims without trespassing the Islamic law. As a matter of law, on the basis of its obligations as a state party to the ICCPR, Iran is obliged to uphold the right of individuals to practice the religion of their choice and to change religions, including converting from Islam. The prosecution of converts from Islam on the basis of religious edicts that identify apostasy as an offense punishable by death is clearly at variance with this obligation. Muslim countries such as Sudan and Saudi Arabia, have the death penalty for apostasy from Islam. These countries have criticized the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for its perceived failure to take into account the cultural and religious context of non-Western countries. In 1990, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation published a separate Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam compliant with Shari'ah. Although granting many of the rights in the UN declaration, it does not grant Muslims the right to convert to other religions, and restricts freedom of speech to those expressions of it that are not in contravention of the Islamic law.
The International Foundation for Human Rights and Tolerance is a human rights group strongly affiliated with Scientology, the stated aim of which is to "provide easy-to-understand human rights education to adults and children so that they are able to grasp what fundamental human rights are as aligned with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights." The group's secondary objective is to "effectively combat violations of human rights, focusing on the issues of children and religious freedom."
Each year, Shia Rights Watch publishes reports that document human rights violations committed against Shia Muslims as defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In 2012, SRW published five reports including one on Pakistan, Bahrain, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia. These reports include recommendations to the United States government with action steps for each specific country to move towards a more unbiased and peaceful government that does not exclude minorities, including religious minorities. Journalists, researchers, human rights activists and members of the United States government request to the organization, largely based on case studies and research, to obtain a copy.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is noted as the first international declaration of fundamental human rights, both freedoms and entitlements alike. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay writes that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights "enshrines a vision that requires taking all human rights—civil, political, economic, social, or cultural—as an indivisible and organic whole, inseparable and interdependent." Likewise, Gruskin et al. contend that the interrelated nature of the rights expressed in the Universal Declaration establishes a "responsibility [that] extends beyond the provision of essential health services to tackling the determinants of health such as, provision of adequate education, housing, food, and favourable working conditions," further stating that these provisions "are human rights themselves and are necessary for health."
On the Universal Declaration of Human Rights drafting committee, he served both as an effective Asian delegate and also as a mediator when the negotiations reached a stalemate. He served as Vice-Chairman of the original UN Commission on Human Rights and Republic of China delegate to committee and played a pivotal role in its drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) of 1948. He and fellow delegate Charles Malik, the Lebanese philosopher-diplomat, shared ideals of universal human rights, but debated what they were and how they could be described in an international document. By most accounts, Chang and Malik were the philosophical leaders of the deliberations. Chang argued that the modern world should pay heed to Chinese philosophers such as Mencius not because they were Chinese, but because their ideas had universal validity.
The concept of human rights literature was first articulated in the foreword to "Freedom", an anthology of short stories by renowned authors from around the world published in Britain in 2010 by Mainstream Publishing in cooperation with the human rights organization Amnesty International. The stories were written in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The Quaker United Nations Office and the American Friends Service Committee work on many human rights issues, including improving education on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They have developed a curriculum to help introduce High School students to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.[68][69]
The American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, also known as the Bogota Declaration, was the world's first international human rights instrument of a general nature, predating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by less than a year.