Armed conflict
Civilian objects
Common article 3
Collateral damage
Complementarity
Deportation
Ethnic cleansing
Evacuation
[...]
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 10 December 1948. It contains thirty articles on civil and political rights of individuals, as well as their economic and social rights. It is the first international text that addresses human rights.
General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding treaties. The UDHR was adopted as a Declaration because it is meant to be more an ideal that all States should strive to achieve. Initially, the UDHR was a crucial point of reference in the development of national and international tools and mandatory obligations. Nowadays, the UDHR is binding on all States because it has become part of international customary law.
The declaration fomed the basis for the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. Together they make up what is known as the international bill of rights. Furthermore, other international legal instruments, like the Torture convention, often refer to the UDHR.
The UDHR also serves as one of the bases for identifying a likely “consistent pattern of gross and reliably attested violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms” that may trigger actions by the international community.
Human rights under the UDHR
Article 1: Equality of human beings in dignity and in rights
Article 2: Non-discrimination between human beings, on any basis such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin—including the political, legal, or international status of the territory of which they are a national—property, birth, or other status
Article 3: Right to life, liberty, and security of person
Article 4: Prohibition on slavery
Article 5: Prohibition on torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment
Article 6: Right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law (juridical personality)
Article 7: Equal protection before the law
Article 8: Right to an effective judicial remedy before a court against violations of fundamental rights
Article 9: Prohibition on arbitrary arrest, detention, or exile
Article 10: Right to legal recourse before an independent and competent court
Article 11: Judicial and due process guarantees for individuals
Article 12: Respect for privacy, family, and home
Article 13: Freedom of movement and residence within each country, and right to leave and return to one’s country
Article 14: Right to flee from persecution and to seek asylum
Article 15: Right to a nationality
Article 16: Right to marriage and protection of marriage
Article 17: Right to property
Article 18: Freedom of thought, conscience, and religion
Article 19: Freedom of expression and opinion, including the right to receive and impart information and ideas, regardless of frontiers
Article 20: Right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
Article 21: Right to take part in the government of one’s country, directly or through freely chosen representatives, based on universal and equal suffrage
Article 22: Right to social security
Article 23: Right to work and to free choice of employment, with equal pay for equal work
Article 24: Right to rest and leisure
Article 25: Right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being and to special care and assistance for the most vulnerable
Article 26: Right to education
Article 27: Right to participate freely in the cultural life of the community and to the protection of scientific, literary, or artistic production
Article 28: Right to a social and international order in which human rights and freedoms can be fully realized
Article 29: Duties of individuals toward the community: any limitations determined by law must be 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. Rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 30: Nothing in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights may be interpreted as allowing any activity aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth therein.
General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding treaties. The UDHR was adopted as a Declaration because it is meant to be more an ideal that all States should strive to achieve. Initially, the UDHR was a crucial point of reference in the development of national and international tools and mandatory obligations. Nowadays, the UDHR is binding on all States because it has become part of international customary law.
The declaration fomed the basis for the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. Together they make up what is known as the international bill of rights. Furthermore, other international legal instruments, like the Torture convention, often refer to the UDHR.
Human rights under the UDHR
Article 1: Equality of human beings in dignity and in rights
Article 2: Non-discrimination between human beings, on any basis such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin—including the political, legal, or international status of the territory of which they are a national—property, birth, or other status
Article 3: Right to life, liberty, and security of person
Article 4: Prohibition on slavery
Article 5: Prohibition on torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment
Article 6: Right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law (juridical personality)
Article 7: Equal protection before the law
Article 8: Right to an effective judicial remedy before a court against violations of fundamental rights
Article 9: Prohibition on arbitrary arrest, detention, or exile
Article 10: Right to legal recourse before an independent and competent court
Article 11: Judicial and due process guarantees for individuals
Article 12: Respect for privacy, family, and home
Article 13: Freedom of movement and residence within each country, and right to leave and return to one’s country
Article 14: Right to flee from persecution and to seek asylum
Article 15: Right to a nationality
Article 16: Right to marriage and protection of marriage
Article 17: Right to property
Article 18: Freedom of thought, conscience, and religion
Article 19: Freedom of expression and opinion, including the right to receive and impart information and ideas, regardless of frontiers
Article 20: Right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
Article 21: Right to take part in the government of one’s country, directly or through freely chosen representatives, based on universal and equal suffrage
Article 22: Right to social security
Article 23: Right to work and to free choice of employment, with equal pay for equal work
Article 24: Right to rest and leisure
Article 25: Right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being and to special care and assistance for the most vulnerable
Article 26: Right to education
Article 27: Right to participate freely in the cultural life of the community and to the protection of scientific, literary, or artistic production
Article 28: Right to a social and international order in which human rights and freedoms can be fully realized
Article 29: Duties of individuals toward the community: any limitations determined by law must be 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. Rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 30: Nothing in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights may be interpreted as allowing any activity aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth therein.