United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Eleanor Roosevelt with the Spanish language version of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Created	1948
Ratified	10 December 1948
Location	Palais de Chaillot, Paris
Author(s)	Draft Committee
Purpose	Human rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) (text) is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948 at the Palais de Chaillot in Paris, France. The Declaration arose directly from the experience of the Second World War and represents the first global expression of what many people believe to be the rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled. The full text is available on the United Nations website.

The Declaration consists of thirty articles which, although not legally binding, have been elaborated in subsequent international treaties, economic transfers, regional human rights instruments, national constitutions, and other laws. The International Bill of Human Rights consists of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its two Optional Protocols. In 1966, the General Assembly adopted the two detailed Covenants, which complete the International Bill of Human Rights. In 1976, after the Covenants had been ratified by a sufficient number of individual nations, the Bill became international law, to be followed by all.

During World War II, the Allies adopted the Four Freedoms—freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from fear, and freedom from want—as their basic war aims. The United Nations Charter "reaffirmed faith in fundamental human rights, and dignity and worth of the human person" and committed all member states to promote "universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion".