One year later in 1966, the UN adopted the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. The process took a while, so ICERD wasn’t officially adopted until 1965. The convention includes a definition of “racial discrimination,” a condemnation of apartheid, a list of standards that parties must uphold, and an individual complaints mechanism. These incidents were recognized as violations of the UDHR. This convention has its origins in 1960 following reports of antisemitism throughout the world. One key example is the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination ( ICERD), a convention with 182 parties bound to it. What has the world built from this blueprint? Using the UDHR as a guide, there are now more than 80 international treaties, declarations, conventions, bills, and constitutional provisions. Its purpose was always to simply present the world with a blueprint the 30 articles are not legally binding. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was the first step toward universal human rights. Ultimately, eight countries abstained from the final vote on the UDHR: South Africa, Saudi Arabia, the five Soviet bloc states, and the Soviet Union. Saudi Arabia felt that the declaration’s stance on religious rights violated Islamic law and disregarded cultural differences. South Africa, which at the time had apartheid, worried that the declaration would disrupt their racial political system. The USSR disliked how the declaration favored individual rights over collective rights. Immediately, there was disagreement among the UN states. No one needs to earn human rights they are born with them. Human rights needed to apply to all humans, regardless of their gender, race, religion, nationality, or culture. Establishing the universality of human rights was the commission’s biggest accomplishment. While the concept of human rights found inspiration in philosophy and documents like the Magna Carta, the UN was attempting something on a scope and scale never before seen. UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS FREEShe suggested opening the declaration with “all human beings are born free and equal” as opposed to “all men.” The commission’s task? Create a roadmap for global human rights. Hansa Mehta of India was the only other woman on the commission. In 1946, she became chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights. President Truman appointed Eleanor Roosevelt as a UN delegate. Why is it so important? Origin story: how the UDHR came to be It’s been over seven decades and the 30-article document remains a source of controversy and inspiration. Three years later in 1948, most of the UN ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 51 countries – including power players like the United States, France, the UK, and the Soviet Union – came together to form the UN. After two World Wars, the Holocaust, the first nuclear bombs, and a massive refugee crisis, something needed to be done. In 1945, the world reached a tipping point.
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