Is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights worth the paper
it’s written on?
In 1948 the United Nations unveiled the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights to protect the rights
of every person in the world from a repeat
of the tragedy of the Second World War.
This declaration was to serve as the “foundation
of freedom, justice and peace in the world”.
A person’s rights were now protected by
the international community from any government
or state. Sixty years on, almost half of the world’s
population has one of the 30 articles laid out
in the Declaration violated on a daily basis.
Millions of people die of easily preventable and curable
diseases, more than a billion people earn a dollar
or less a day and the same number do not have access
to clean drinking water.
Meanwhile the repression of fundamental freedoms,
torture, death penalty, discrimination and violence
on kids and women continue to be tools for social
control and keeping power.
The human rights laid out in the declaraion are often
attacked by the very people who should be defending
them – our governments. Why?
Endorsed by Amnesty.
Click here to download the complete Call for Entries, Conditions and Rules (PDF).