Universal Declaration of Human Rights

‘There are few historical developments more significant than the realisation that those in power should not be free to torture and abuse those who are not.’ – Amal Clooney



On 10 December 1948, in Paris, the United Nations General Assembly adopted an extraordinarily ground-breaking and important proclamation: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This milestone document, made up of thirty Articles, sets out, for the first time, the fundamental human rights that must be protected by all nations.



The full text of the document is reproduced in this book following a foreword by human rights lawyer Amal Clooney and a general introduction which explores its origins in the ‘Four Freedoms’ described by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the role his wife Eleanor Roosevelt took on as chair of the Human Rights Commission and of the drafting committee, and the parts played by other key international members of the Commission. It was a pioneering achievement in the wake of the Second World War and continues to provide a basis for international human rights law, making this document’s aims ‘as relevant today as when they were first adopted a lifetime ago.’