HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

The Universal Declaration of December 8, 1948 did not come out of nowhere; It is one more in a series of declarations of rights that human beings have made throughout the History of Humanity . It is neither the first nor has it been the last, since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 has been followed by other subsequent declarations.

Exercise

Identify at least six historical facts mentioned in this documentary that are antecedents of current Human Rights.

BACKGROUND: 17TH AND 18TH CENTURIES

There are three documents in which various rights of people are declared.

English Bill of Rights

England, 1689. The Declaration of Rights and Freedoms of Subjects and Succession Agreement to the Crown limited the powers of the absolute monarchy in England, establishing the parliamentary monarchy. The rights that this declaration gives to English subjects are fundamentally guarantees that the crown will not exercise excessive power against them, and that it is Parliament that has the last word:

• Guarantee that the king will not interfere with the proclamation of the laws by the parliament.

• Guarantee that the king will not tax without prior agreement of the parliament.

• Freedom to elect members of parliament without interference from the king.

• Freedom of speech and opinion in debates in parliament.

These rights are concerned with limiting the power of the king, but they are still far from being a Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

United States Bill of Rights

United States, 1776. Upon becoming independent, they draw up a Bill of Rights that will be included in their Constitution (1787) in 1791. These rights refer fundamentally to the political and social life of citizens:

• Freedom of opinion, association, religion and political ideas.

• Freedom of possession of firearms.

• Inviolability of the home

• Right to trial, prohibition of punishments without prior trial.

The American Bill of Rights establishes some of the Human Rights, but not all or for everyone. Slaves and women were excluded.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

In the French Revolution (1789) the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was proclaimed :

This declaration is a clear precedent for the United Nations Universal Declaration. It establishes freedom and equality as natural rights of all men. Similar to the American declaration, they establish the basic civil liberties to participate in government, and they establish that sovereignty resides in the nation, not in a sovereign.

However, the French Declaration did not have universal impact, it did not even spread to the French colonies. It only protected the rights of male French citizens but excluded women.

BACKGROUND: ninetieth century

During the nineteenth century, the struggle for rights was extended to all citizens. Not only the enlightened and wealthy men, but also the less educated, the workers, men and women.

This fight for universal rights is clearly manifested in the right to vote.

Universal suffrage

Initially, after the French and American Revolutions, the right to vote was restricted to a small group of people: rich and educated white men. Throughout the 19th century and finally triumphing in the 20th century, universal suffrage was achieved in most countries.

Right to strike

As a way of defending themselves against the exploitative conditions in force in the 19th century, the labor strike was one of the tools used by workers in industrialized countries. Along with the right to organize , the right to strike served to improve working conditions, such as:

• Reduction of the working day to eight hours. Achieved in the most advanced countries (Europe and North America) at the beginning of the 20th century and celebrated annually on Labor Day. In Spain, it was achieved in 1919.

• Right to paid vacations.

THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Female suffrage

Within the struggle for universal suffrage that began in the 19th century, the right to vote for women, female suffrage , has special importance . This right was achieved in the vast majority of countries throughout the first half of the 20th century .

During the 20th century, Declarations and Conventions have been taking place, collecting the fundamental rights of all people. The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights , which is the first to include women, is the most outstanding example, but it is one among others.

To organize the different rights over time, it is usual to classify them into three generations :

HUMAN RIGHTS

The Human Rights (HR) are a very special type of rights.

Some human rights expand the capacities to act of those who have them, others protect us from the interference of others and some others give us benefits or advantages.

Applying the concepts already seen, we can say that human rights give human beings:

• • Freedom to act, for example the right to move freely gives us the ability to live where we want.

  • Negative guarantees that no one will interfere with our freedom, for example the guarantee of not being arbitrarily detained or imprisoned.

  • Positive guarantees that the authorities that govern us will seek our protection and well-being.

Human Rights are collected in a document : The Universal Declaration of Human Rights .

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights has not always existed, it was the result of the work of representatives of seventeen countries and voted on December 10, 1948 by 48 of the 56 countries that were then members of the United Nations.

Subsequently, this Declaration has been incorporated into the Charter of the United Nations , the document that defines what the United Nations is and what is the purpose of the United Nations, so that all member countries of the United Nations assume human rights.

This statement is made up of two parts :

• 1. Preamble or introduction: it makes a series of considerations.

  2. Articulated : list of thirty articles, one article for each human right.

Preamble

Let's take a closer look at three of the seven considerations that make up the preamble:

Dignity and equality: the basis of other fundamental values

Considering that freedom, justice and peace in the world are based on the recognition of the intrinsic dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family.

This first consideration expresses two important ideas:

• 1. For freedom, justice and peace to be extended to all, it is necessary to recognize the intrinsic dignity of all human beings and the equal rights of all of them. Every person, without distinction, is worthy of respect for himself, not for what he does, or for what he has, or for what he knows, or for any other consideration.

  2. No authority can deprive us of our human rights: they are inalienable.

The lack of human rights is a cause of barbarism.

Considering that ignorance and disregard for human rights have led to outrageous acts of barbarism for the conscience of humanity, and that the advent of a world in which human beings, liberated, has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of mankind, from fear and misery, enjoy freedom of speech and freedom of belief;

• • Either out of ignorance or contempt, the violation of human rights is a cause of barbarism.

  • Or put the other way around, respect for human rights will prevent acts of barbarism.

  • Achieving that human rights are respected throughout the world is a goal to be achieved.

  • When this goal is reached, human beings will live free, without fear or misery.

Human Rights promote social progress:

Considering that the peoples of the United Nations have reaffirmed in the Charter their faith in the fundamental rights of man, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women, and have declared themselves determined to promote social progress and raising the standard of living within a broader concept of freedom;

The member countries of the United Nations (practically all) accept the bases of human rights:

• • The dignity of people, their non-negotiable value.

  • The equality of all people, and in particular equality between men and women.

And because they accept these fundamental values, the member countries of the United Nations declare that they are determined to:

• • improve the standard of living and

  • social progress.

Fundamental Human Rights

Freedom and equality (Article No. 1) and non-discrimination (Article No. 2) are the foundation of all other human rights.