As you may know at the end of 2023 the world observed the 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This bold and beautiful series of 30 articles, is a milestone document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on December 10th, 1948 as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. It set out – for the first time – fundamental human rights to be universally protected and it has been translated into over 500 languages.
I find this statement beautiful, to me it feels very much inline with the vision of human flourishing I see Jesus inviting in throughout the Gospels. … Abundant life! …Life to the Full! I may not know what life to the full is exactly, but this list feels like a damn good place to start.
For some reason didn’t think of creating a post about this in December, but today I’m in a reflective mood, I turn 55 years old tomorrow, and I find myself journaling about big thoughts about my life and hopes… I think I’m just feeling the profound dare this statement is to the oppressive systems of empire of our world.
Peace, dwight
Article One
All human beings are born free and equal.
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 Two
Everyone is equal regardless of race, colour, sex, language, religion, politics, or where they were born.
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 Three
Everyone has the right to life and to live in freedom and safety.
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article Four
Everyone has the right to be free from slavery.
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
Article Five
Everyone has the right to be free from torture.
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article Six
Everyone has the right to be recognized before the law.
You should be legally protected in the same way everywhere like anyone else.
Article Seven
We are all are equal before the law.
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 Eight
Everyone has the right to seek justice if their rights are violated.
You have the right to obtain legal help and access the justice system when your rights are not respected.
Article Nine
Everyone has the right to freedom from arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
No one can arrest or detain you arbitrarily , or send you away from your country unjustly.
Article Ten
Everyone has the right to a fair trial.
Trials should be public and tried in a fair manner by an impartial and independent tribunal.
Article Eleven
Everyone has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
You are considered innocent until it can be proved you are guilty according to law. If accused of a crime you have the right to a defence.
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 they have had all the guarantees necessary for their 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 Twelve
Everyone has the right to privacy and freedom from attacks on their reputation.
You have the right to protection if someone tried to harm your good name, enter your home without permission or interfere with your correspondence.
Article Thirteen
Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and to be free to leave and return to their own country.
You have the right to leave or move within your own country and you should be able to return.
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 their own, and to return to their country.
Article Fourteen
Everyone has the right to seek asylum from persecution.
If you are persecuted at home, you have the right to seek protection in another country.
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 Fifteen
Everyone has the right to a nationality.
You have the right to belong to a country and have a nationality.
1. Everyone has the right to a nationality.
2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of their nationality nor denied the right to change their nationality.
Article Sixteen
Everyone has the right to marry and to have a family.
Men and women have the right to marry when they are legally able without limits due to race, nationality or religion. Families should be protected by the Government and the justice system.
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 Seventeen
Everyone has the right to own property.
You have the right to own things. No one has the right to illegally take them from you.
1. Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of their property.
Article Eighteen
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
Everyone has the right to freely manifest their religion, to change it and to practice it alone or with others.
Article Nineteen
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression.
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 though any media and regardless of frontiers.
Article Twenty
Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
You have the right to organize and participate in peaceful meetings.
1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
2. No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
Article Twenty-One
Everyone has the right to take part in government and to have equal access to public service.
Everyone has the right to take part in their country’s political affairs and equal access to public service. Governments should be voted for regularly.
1. Everyone has the right to take part in the government of their country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
2. Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in their 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 secrete vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.
Article Twenty-Two
Everyone has the right to social security.
Society should help individuals to freely develop and make the most of all advantages offered in their country.
Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international cooperation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for their dignity and the free development of their personality.
Article Twenty-Three
Everyone has the right to work, to equal pay, to protection against unemployment and the right to form and join trade unions.
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 themselves and their 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 their interests.
Article Twenty-Four
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure.
Each work day should not be too long and everyone has the right to rest and take regular paid holidays.
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.
Article Twenty-Five
Everyone has the right to a decent standard of living, including food, clothing, housing, medical care and social services.
You have the right to have what you need so that you and your family do not go hungry, homeless or fall ill.
1. Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of themselves and of their family, including foods, 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 Twenty-Six
Everyone has the right to education.
You have the right to go to school, continue your studies as far as you wish and learn regardless of race, religion or country of origin.
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 Twenty-Seven
Everyone has the right to participate in and enjoy culture, art and science.
You have the right to share the benefits of your community’s culture, arts and sciences.
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 they are the author.
Article Twenty-Eight
Right to a free and fair world.
To make sure your rights are respected, there must be an order that can protect them. This order should be global.
Everyone has the right to a social and international order where the rights in this Declaration can be fully realized.
Article Twenty-Nine
We have a duty to other people and we should protect their rights and freedoms.
You have duties toward the community within which your personality can fully develop. The law should guarantee human rights. It should allow everyone to respect others and to be respected.
1. Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of their personality is possible.
2. In the exercise of their 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 Thirty
Nobody can take away these rights and freedoms from us.
Rights are inalienable.
No one, institution nor individual, should act in any way to destroy the rights enshrined in the UDHR.
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.
