The Actual Universal Declaration of Human Rights

OK, so, yesterday was One Day for Human Rights, right? Head over to OneDayForHumanRights.com for more on that. But the way I look at it, every day should be a day when we defend human rights, right?
Now, I'm just a blogger--the only "weapons" I use are my words. So, that's how I'm defending human rights. Speaking up and speaking out--hey, in some countries, that would get me thrown in jail.

So here's day 2. I'm not saying I'll be able to keep this up forever, but I've got a few ideas for posts. For starters, I thought I'd post the entire Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Sure, you can find it elsewhere, but until these rights are actually universally respected around the globe, it can't help to keep repeating them over and over, right?

Now, on OneDayForHumanRights.com, they have a post that includes the entire text of the UDHR, but also links to where they got it from. Here's where I got the below text from:

http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/lang/eng.htm

Find it in other languages here:

http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/navigate/alpha.htm

OneDayForHumanRights.com also made available, in PDF format, a flier about human rights abuses around the world and the UDHR in it's entirety. I'm hosting copies of those PDFs here at ThePete.Com along with a text version of the UDHR.

Here's an intro about the UDHR from it's Wikipedia page:

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (10 December 1948 at Palais de Chaillot, Paris). The Guinness Book of Records describes the UDHR as the "Most Translated Document" in the world. The Declaration arose directly from the experience of the Second World War and represents the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled. It consists of 30 articles which have been elaborated in subsequent international treaties, regional human rights instruments, national constitutions and 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; and in 1976, after the Covenants had been ratified by a sufficient number of individual nations, the Bill took on the force of international law.

So, there you go--not only is it a guide book, but it's a law book, too.

Here it is, just for you, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

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 cooperation 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 to 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.

I'm thinking it's pretty sad that it's the 21st century and we even need one of these things. Makes you wonder just how far we have actually come as a species and as a culture.

Human Rights and the Promises of Our Leaders

Human Rights are something that, here in America, aren't really thought about until someone we know or care about becomes a victim to them. In some areas in the world everyone knows someone who has had their rights abridged or outright squashed. We've all heard of those places, so I won't go into them here. Just know that for all of our own advancements here in America, the vast majority of humanity has been left behind. Most of Earth's citizens are still waiting to see a world that protects the rights of all humans.

In this sense, our leaders have universally let us down. The role of governments (and the leaders who run them) is supposed to be to protect the rights of their citizens. The thing is, we have trouble making sure that happens here in the US. There are still too many people who are silenced or worse. Sure, it's easy to point to things that have happened under the Bush Administration, but the reality is no US administration has put human rights front and center. In fact, in previous decades and even centuries, the USG has sponsored military actions, coups and even full-blown wars solely in the interest of securing capitalism as the dominant economic system in other countries.

So, when someone talks to you about human rights and how they should be supported, don't think that just because you live in the US or another western country you don't need to worry about them. Here in the US we still have a long way to go. In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, written sixty years ago, there is a passage about marriage:

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.

Guess what Prop 8 over in California is about. Yep. Gay marriage. Stopping gays from getting marriage is a violation of the UDHR. Our leaders shouldn't even allow something like Prop 8 to get put up to a vote since it violates basic human rights. Yet, there it is.

Human rights activist Jack Healy posted about the UDHR's birthday a couple days ago on HuffPo and in that post he said, in part, this in reference to the UDHR:

By the year 2010, 42% of the world will be under the age of 21. As was seen in the recent American election, there is a clamoring for change amongst this demographic. This exists not only for young people at home, but all over the world. When injustice occurs in far corners of the globe, this document empowers the innocent against the oppressor. Just as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. pointed to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights as an example of justice and equality, so to will this new generation need a rulebook to combat oppression.

Such a rulebook already exists in this Declaration. For 60 years, governments have let this document gather dust in a closet.

...and our governments, across the planet, have let us down.

I'm not an anarchist, but ya know, now that I think about it...

Read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights over at OneDayForHumanRights.com

Hell, I think there should be a 365daysAYearForHumanRights.com!

ROLE MODELS? WHERE?!?!

There was a time when children and even adults found role models in literature. What else was the Bible, but a book of fairly reasonable examples of how you should live your life? And since then there have been an endless supply of books jammed with great examples of heroes, both male and female that supplied many Americans with positive examples of how to live one's life. But since the 80s we, as a nation, have started reading fewer and fewer books, looking to television for most of our brain stimulation. That's a pretty frightening prospect, isn't it? Back in my father's day, there was the Lone Ranger and Paladin on the radio - they both made the leap to Television, but by the eighties, characters we could really look up to had vanished. They were replaced by Michael Knight and the Knight Industries Two-Thousand (Knight Rider) and B.A. Baracus (The A-Team) and Remington Steele.

These were the Eighties' equivalent to the Lone Ranger, but they were vacant of any true moralistic spirit. Michael would get in to trouble and KITT would save his ass. Meanwhile, the A-Team would simply get revenge on some mean guy who was taking advantage of some little guy - yip-E. Even when I was a kid I watched these shows and thought they were pretty lame, it's just that watching Mr. T act like an ass and watching that sleek Trans Am made both shows bearable. The Nineties offered up no such role models. The only notable characters that comes to mind from the Nineties would be Bart Simpson, Jerry Seinfeld and Al Bundy. Jeez. So what's the deal here? Why is it that we as a culture don't seem to mind that the examples that are set for us are morally bankrupt? I mean, come on!!

Al Bundy taught we men that we should want to have sex with anyone except our wives.

The Simpsons taught us that men are frigging idiots while women are secretly brilliant but never quite brilliant enough to do anything with that brilliance.

Jerry Seinfeld taught us to blur the line separating fiction and reality so much that no one is really surprised when AFTER his sitcom goes off the air the REAL Jerry Seinfeld hooks up with a married woman and proceeds to break up her marriage.

Hollywood in 1999 gave a lifetime achievement award to a brilliant film maker who just happen to help keep several immensely talented writers from getting work in the film industry during the Communist Witch Hunt. As if it wasn't already hard enough to get work as a writer. We seem to be a country that can quite easily concentrate on what we like about a person and wholly ignore what is sheer evil about them. Did you know Charles Lindburg disliked Jews? Did you know that Bob Fosse, one of the greatest stage and film directors of all time was an alcoholic and used heavy quantities of cocaine, uppers and downers? (The combination of all these drugs help lead Fosse to an early grave.)

Since the real world is filled with flawed, somewhat bankrupt people, why don't we compensate in our media? Why doesn't SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE suggest that we can do better? Oh yeah, someone tried to once. Two thousand years ago and boy did they nail him to the wall for it. Ah well, we all have our cross to bare.

AND ANOTHER THING...

I HATE it when people ask me "What do you want for Christmas" or even my birthday for that matter - it bugs me - I'm the kind of guy who goes out and gets what he wants himself - I don't wait for some holiday to come along. What's even better than that is that I'd rather get nothing at all than something I only dreamed up and told you just to tell you something. Look, I know you mean well - and that's great, but save yourself some money and just get me a damn card! Really - unless you see something that screams at you, just don't bother. Well... unless you just want to send money. Or a gift certificate. I shop at Best Buy a lot. Too bad I didn't post an essay last week. STUPID! STUPID! STUPID!

HOLIDAYS SHMOLIDAYS

I've bitched about holidays before, but since they keep coming, I'm going to keep whining. So here's this year's complaint. I have a busy life. I always thought that holidays were times when you could take off from work, get paid and actually do what YOU wanted to do. Well, for the fun Christian holiday that I am taking part in, I not only must do what society tells me to do, but I must lose time I would normally spend making money just so I can make these preparations!! I mean, come on - is this gift giving thing that big of a deal? No one realizes that all the time I must take to get presents, wrap them and so on, I actually lose time working. So, less working means less money, less money, means fewer PRESENTS!! Think about THAT for a minute!!

WHAT'S WITH THE BIG DIAMOND PUSH???

Now, maybe it's just me - but I feel like with the next millennium coming up (or so we misunderstand), diamond marketers are putting a HUGE push on these things. I've never understood why women are supposed to like diamonds. Is it because they're stupid and are attracted to pretty, shiny things? I've always felt women (certainly compared to men) were fairly practical people, but this odd love of pretty shiny things puzzles me. I know that our society programs women to like Barbie dolls, dresses, flowers, make-up and jewelry, but it's almost the 21st century!! Why haven't these women woken up?!? How practical is a pair of diamond earrings? Oh, sure, she may look great in them at a dinner party, but how many average women go to dinner parties? And of those dinner parties, how many are ritzy enough for the attendees to wear diamond earrings?? Sheesh - Oh yeah - women are practical alright.