*EPF409 12/05/2002
Human Rights Day Will Be Observed December 10
(To commemorate the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights) (1370)

By David Pitts
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- President Bush is expected to mark Human Rights Day, which is observed on December 10 every year, by once again issuing a proclamation stressing the importance of human rights and democracy not just to Americans, but also for all the peoples of the world.

Human Rights Day commemorates the adoption of the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948. The landmark document states that human rights are not the preserve of any one nation, or race, or gender but an entitlement for every man, woman and child on the planet. Article 3 states: "Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person."

The first of these rights -- self evidently the most basic of the human rights detailed in the Universal Declaration -- continues to be denied to untold numbers of people across the planet through acts of violence and other forms of oppression -- evidence, if any were needed, of how far the world must travel before the ideals incorporated in the Universal Declaration more than 50 years ago are realized.

How the Universal Declaration came to be adopted by the U.N. -- even though its then member states were deeply split not only ideologically but also with respect to their views on race, sex, religion and other matters -- is one of the great stories of postwar history. That the task was accomplished in the political climate prevalent in 1948 is testimony to the skill of those who labored both to produce the document and, more importantly, to secure its adoption.

The stage was set for producing a universal document on human rights after the adoption of the United Nations Charter in 1945. It set the goal of "promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms of all without distinction as to race, sex, language and religion." But how were human rights to be defined in the postwar world? The task was assigned to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, which was established in 1946.

A key figure in the evolution of the Universal Declaration, according to historians, was Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of U.S. president Franklin Delano Roosevelt. She was appointed to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights after her husband's death by his successor, President Harry Truman. The delegates unanimously elected her chairperson of the newly created body in recognition not only of her status as the widow of America's wartime leader but also in appreciation for her own work on behalf of human rights.

Roosevelt chaired the drafting committee under the auspices of the commission and, from the start, aggressively argued for a strong, precise definition of human rights while at the same time "trying to bridge the gap between different members and reconcile different points of view deriving from different cultures," writes Tamora Hareven, one of many biographers of the late first lady.

At the time the Universal Declaration was drafted, there were marked differences among nations, and among people within nations, concerning the rights of women and people of color, religious liberty, the point at which human life began, the extent of freedom of speech and the right to dissent, and the degree of economic and social rights, Hareven adds. As the drafting of the document progressed, it was clear it would be much easier to write it than to secure its adoption by the U.N. General Assembly.

The most serious division on human rights derived from the entirely different conception of freedom and democracy held by Western nations and their allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. Roosevelt argued there was no "true individual freedom in the Soviet Union because the rights of the individual were subservient to the state." The Soviet side argued that the West was interested only in "eighteenth century rights" and insufficiently committed to economic and social rights.

This fundamental disagreement framed the commission's debates as the drafting of the document proceeded. The delegates representing communist countries strongly objected to the deliberations, sometimes delivering speeches lasting hours in an effort to steer the wording of the document to their point of view, Roosevelt recalls in her book, "The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt." As chairperson, she says, she allowed them great latitude but was determined to complete a draft by Christmas 1948.

Against the odds, with the help of her other U.N. colleagues, especially Charles Malik (Lebanon), P.C. Chang (China), John Humphrey (Canada) and Rene Cassin (France), Roosevelt achieved her goal. The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948.

Of 58 members represented at the session, 48 voted in favor, none voted against, eight abstained, and two were absent. The Soviet Union and its satellites constituted the majority of the abstentions. The representative of Saudi Arabia also abstained because, in his view, the declaration presented too Western a view of human rights. South Africa, whose long embrace of apartheid began that same year, also abstained -- objecting to the inclusivity of all races.

Speaking before the General Assembly, Eleanor Roosevelt stressed the epoch-making value of the document:

"The declaration may well become the international Magna Carta of all men everywhere. We hope this proclamation by the General Assembly will be an event comparable to the proclamation of the Rights of Man by the French people in 1789, the adoption of the Bill of Rights by the people of the United States, and the adoption of comparable declarations at different times in other countries."

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration set the tone for a broad range of political, social and economic rights that are offered as a common standard of achievement for all nations. "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and human rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."

In the wake of the most barbarous war in history, the world had finally adopted a set of principles, which, it was hoped, would set humanity on a new course -- to hold all nations to account for their actions, both internally and externally. There was now an international standard by which nations' human rights records could be measured and judged.

As a resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations, however, the Universal Declaration had no force of law. Assembly resolutions are recommendations to states, not binding obligations. But as Jack Donnelly and Rhoda Howard stress in their "International Handbook of Human Rights," over the years "the Universal Declaration has come to be something more than a mere recommendation."

The declaration inspired a number of regional human rights conventions in Europe, Latin America and Africa, and influenced the drafting of many of the constitutions of the new independent states that emerged onto the world stage after the defeat of colonialism in the decades following the end of World War II.

The norms and precepts encompassed in the Universal Declaration also were further elaborated in a series of U.N. covenants, most notably the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the United States is a signatory. These covenants are considered binding on states that are signatory to them.

Each year, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, the same body chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt more than a half century ago, meets in Geneva to assess the compliance of states with human rights standards and to hold violators to account. Although the tools at the disposal of the commission have been criticized by some human rights defenders as inadequate, the importance of its ability to expose violators to public scrutiny cannot be underestimated.

It has become a tradition each year -- on Human Rights Day -- to take note not only of the commission's first and most enduring achievement -- the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights -- but also the work of the myriad of other human rights organizations, both governmental and nongovernmental, that are striving to make this landmark document a reality in the life of all nations and peoples.

(For a more detailed account of the story of the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, see the ITDHR electronic journal article, "The Noble Endeavor." (highlight from the journal, "Free and Equal: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights at 50"). http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itdhr/1098/ijde/ijde1098.htm

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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