The Origins of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

1
The Origins of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights

• BACON, Paul
• School of International Liberal Studies
• Waseda University
• PH201

2
UDHR download URL

• You can read the UDHR in full and download a copy
  using the following URL
• www.unhchr.ch/udhr/index.htm

3
Key points about human rights

• The idea of human rights is an extremely powerful
  idea that has been globalized.
• But it is also the case that many human rights
  have been and are being violated around the
  world.
• The UN has played a key role in the codification
  of human rights.
• The UN has attempted to establish human rights
  norms, institutions and activities to support
  these basic and universal human rights.

4
Key points about human rights

• It is perhaps accurate to suggest that the UN has
  been extremely successful at codifying and
  promoting human rights.
• But less successful at creating institutions that
  protect human rights.
• Individuals, NGOs, IGOs and sometimes states have
  been the prime movers in campaigns to promote
  human rights.

5
Human rights-Key events

• The Holocaust.
• Apartheid in South Africa.
• Lack of civil and political rights in eastern
  Europe during the Cold War.
• Famine in Africa.
• Genocide in Bosnia and Rwanda in the 1990s.

6
Institutional background

• The League of Nations Covenant made little
  mention of human rights, despite some delegations
  to the Paris Peace Conference (including Japan)
  attempting to include religious freedom and
  racial equality in the document.
• The Assembly of the League of Nations discussed
  the possibility of producing a human rights
  document in the 1930s, but eventually no action
  was taken.
• In a famous 1941 speech to Congress, US president
  Franklin Roosevelt identified four freedoms, and
  called for a world order based on these four
  essential freedoms. Roosevelts call to protect
  these freedoms was based on his belief that the
  Allies were defending the moral order against
  Germany and Japan during the Second World War.

7
Roosevelts four freedoms

• The four freedoms to which Roosevelt referred
  were
• Freedom of speech and expression.
• Freedom of worship.
• Freedom from want.
• Freedom from fear.

8
The UN Charter and Human Rights

• The UN Charter, which was signed in June 1945,
  and came into legal force in October 1945,
  mentions human rights in a number of different
  places, as we have already seen. (the Preamble to
  the Charter, Article 1, Article 13, Article 55,
  Article 68).
• One of the primary purposes of the UN is
  promoting and encouraging respect for human
  rights and for fundamental freedoms for all,
  without distinction as to race, sex, language or
  religion.
• These commitments to human rights contradict
  other important parts of the UN Charter, and are
  ultimately trumped by them.

9
-Human Rights in the UN Charter-Preamble

• WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED
  to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in
  the dignity and worth of the human person, in the
  equal rights of men and women and of nations
  large and small

• ??????????? ???????????????????????????????????
  ????????

10
-Human Rights in the UN Charter-Chapter 1
Article 1 Section 3

• The Purposes of the United Nations are
• 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

• ?????????????????
• ?????????????????????????????????????????????????
  ??????????????????????????????????????????????????
  ???????????

11
-Human Rights in the UN Charter-Chapter 4
Article 13 Section 1b

• The General Assembly shall initiate studies and
  make recommendations for the purpose of
• assisting in the realization of human rights
  and fundamental freedoms for all without
  distinction as to race, sex, language, or
  religion.

• ???????????????????????????
• ????????????????????????????????????????????????
  ???

12
-Human Rights in the UN Charter-Chapter 9
Article 55

• With a view to the creation of conditions of
  stability and well-being which are necessary for
  peaceful and friendly relations among nations
  based on respect for the principle of equal
  rights and self-determination of peoples, the
  United Nations shall promote
• universal respect for, and observance of,
  human rights and fundamental freedoms for all
  without distinction as to race, sex, language, or
  religion.

• ??????????????????????????????????????????????????
  ??????????????????????????????
• ...??????????????????????????????????????????????
  ??

13
-Human Rights in the UN Charter-Chapter 10
Article 68

• The Economic and Social Council shall set up
  commissions in economic and social fields and for
  the promotion of human rights, and such other
  commissions as may be required for the
  performance of its functions.
• ??????????????????????????????????????????????????
  ????????????????

14
Contradictions in the UN Charter
Article 2 -Section 1 Sovereign equality of member
states
Chapter 5 Veto power of P5 countries in the
Security Council
15
Contradictions in the UN Charter
Article 2, Section 7 Non-intervention in the
domestic affairs of sovereign states
Preamble Article 1 Article 13 Article 55 Article
68 Human Rights
16
Problems of the Security Council

• It is difficult for the UNSC to intervene to
  protect human rights because
• During the Cold War, the superpowers found it
  difficult to agree on anything.
• China and Russia have questionable human rights
  records. (Freedom House)
• One could say that human rights were traded for
  peace and security. The priority was to avoid war.

17
The UN Charter and Human Rights

• The UN Charter does not define human rights. But
  it does establish a commitment and obligation to
  human rights on behalf of states.
• The UN Charter provides the UN with the legal
  authority to define and codify human rights
  (Article 68).
• The UN General Assembly laid the foundations for
  this effort on December 10th 1948, with the
  passing of the Universal Declaration of Human
  Rights.
• The UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of
  Human Rights together constitute a revolution in
  the international politics of human rights.

18
The UN and Human Rights

• ECOSOC was given the mandate to set up human
  rights commissions. It established three
• 1. The Commission on Human Rights.
• 2. The Sub-commission on the Prevention of
  Discrimination and Protection of Minorities. (In
  1999 this was renamed as the Sub-commission on
  the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights).
• 3. The Commission on the Status of Women.

19
The UN Commission on Human Rights

• The Commission on Human Rights has been at the
  hub of the UNs human rights-related activities.
  The Commission on Human Rights has also been at
  the core of the UN human rights regime.
• The Commission on Human Rights drafted and
  negotiated the major human rights documents,
  including the UDHR.
• However, The Commission on Human Rights has
  attracted fierce criticism for being ineffective,
  slow, complex, selective and highly politicized.
• The Commission on Human Rights was replaced by a
  new UN Human Rights Council on June 19, 2006.

20
The UDHR

• Strictly speaking, the UDHR exists to make rights
  more effective at a national level, through
  national laws and national institutions.
• The UDHR draws on ideas which influenced the
  French and American revolutions. These
  revolutions also drew on principles of natural
  rights.
• The 30 rights which are contained in the UDHR are
  intended to maintain and promote political
  freedom preserve civil society and protect the
  economic and social rights of individuals.

21
The UDHR

• It should be made clear that the UDHR was
  intended as a first step.
• From a legal point of view, the UDHR is merely a
  recommendation made by the UN General Assembly.
• It was expected that the UDHR would be followed
  by a covenant or treaty that would be binding on
  all states that signed it.
• In the late 1940s the Cold War developed between
  the Soviet Union and the United States. As a
  result of this conceptual and political
  differences emerged between western and socialist
  views on human rights.
• These political and conceptual disagreements
  delayed the approval of a covenant or treaty that
  would give legal status to the rights which are
  contained in the UDHR.

22
The Western view

• To simplify somewhat, the western view is that it
  is individuals that have rights.
• These rights must be protected from state
  intrusion.
• According to the western view, the following
  civil and political rights are crucial for the
  functioning of society
• freedom of speech
• freedom of worship
• freedom of the press
• freedom of assembly.

23
The Western view

• These rights are often referred to as
  first-generation rights, or negative rights.
• They are referred to as first-generation because
  these were the first rights to be incorporated
  into modern political constitutions.
• They are referred to as negative rights, because
  they prevent government from interfering with
  private individuals in civil society.

24
The socialist view

• Again to simplify somewhat, according to the
  socialist view, human rights are the minimum
  material benefits that the state must provide for
  the people, so that they have the freedom to
  realize their rights.
• According to the socialist view, the state must
  provide for the following economic and social
  rights, which are crucial for the functioning of
  society
• the right to employment
• the right to health care
• the right to education
• the right to social security.

25
The socialist view

• These rights are often referred to as
  second-generation, or positive rights.
• They are associated with the 20th century view
  that it is the responsibility of government to
  provide for social welfare.
• It should be noted that both first- and second-
  generation rights are included in the UDHR.

26
The International Bill of Human Rights

• As a result of the political and ideological
  differences which emerged during the Cold War, it
  was eventually necessary to draft two separate
  human rights Covenants.
• - The International Covenant on Economic, Social
  and Cultural Rights.
• - The International Covenant on Civil and
  Political Rights.
• Both of these covenants were ratified by the UN
  General Assembly in 1966, and came into legal
  force in 1976, when they had been ratified by a
  sufficient number of countries.

27
The International Bill of Human Rights

• These two international covenants, taken together
  with the UDHR, are sometimes referred to as the
  International Bill of Human Rights.
• The international bill of rights is a significant
  achievement, which demonstrates the important
  role which the UN has played in standard-setting
  in human rights.
• Prior to and following the approval of the two
  standard-setting covenants, the UN has also
  systematically articulated a variety of human
  rights in more detail.
• Subjects include women, slavery, torture,
  refugees, forced labor, apartheid, and various
  forms of discrimination.