[lit-ideas] The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- From: Eric <eyost1132@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2006 17:30:30 -0500
So we're all on the same page here, I am posting
the UDHR in (British) English as it appears on the
UN Web site at http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/lang/eng.htm
__________________________
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
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 cooperation 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, 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 to 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.
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
Other related posts: