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On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United
Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights the full text of which appears in the following
pages. Following this historic act the Assembly called upon
all Member countries to publicize 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."
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,
ow, 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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