The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948, a date now marked each year as Human Rights Day. Drafted by a committee chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, it was the first internationally agreed statement of the fundamental rights to which all people are entitled.
Content
The Declaration contains a preamble and thirty articles. Article 1 proclaims that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. The following articles set out civil and political rights, such as the rights to life, liberty and security of person, freedom from torture and slavery, equality before the law, a fair trial, the presumption of innocence, privacy, freedom of movement, asylum, nationality, marriage, property, thought, conscience, religion, opinion, expression, assembly and participation in government. It also proclaims economic, social and cultural rights, including social security, work, rest and leisure, an adequate standard of living, education and participation in cultural life.
Legal Status
As a General Assembly resolution, the Declaration was not originally a binding treaty. Its principles have since been given binding form in the two International Covenants of 1966, and many of its provisions are widely regarded as reflecting customary international law.
Influence
The UDHR has been translated into more languages than any other document. It inspired the human rights chapters of national constitutions across the world and more than seventy human rights treaties.
In Indonesia
The human rights chapter added to the 1945 Constitution in 2000 (Chapter XA, Articles 28A to 28J) closely follows the rights set out in the Declaration. Law No. 39 of 1999 on Human Rights expressly refers to the Declaration, and the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) monitors their implementation.