civil and political rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights consists of an introduction or preamble and thirty articles. On this page we are going to expose articles 12 to 17, they are called civil and political rights. These rights are related to our life in society, we are free citizens and we have the right to choose how to live our life without arbitrary interference from the authorities.
Study each of these articles:
Is it a freedom or a guarantee (positive or negative)? Some of the articles may be both.
Pay attention to the words with which it is formulated, explain those little known or technical words. Explain the law in your words.
Rights in general have limitations and conditions for their application. Find those limitations and conditions.
What is the reciprocal obligation to the right presented?
Article 12. Right to Privacy
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. Freedom to move
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. The Right to asylum
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 nonpolitical crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 15. Right to a nationality
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. Right to a family
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. Right to ownership
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.