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Adopted and proclaimed by the United Nations
General Assembly on 10 December 1948
Following this historic act the General Assembly called upon
all Member countries to publicise the text of the Declaration
and "to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and
expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions,
without distinction based on the political status of countries
or territories."
The full text appears below. Elsewhere on this
site you can read how
the UDHR came about and a simplified
English version. You can also access it in more than on the UN website.
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 co-operation 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 of 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.
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