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The General Assembly proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

Declaration of Human Rights, 10 December 1948

The first known instance of a human rights agenda can be traced back to 539 BCE, when Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered the city of Babylon. In the wake of his triumph, he did something totally unexpected, freeing all the slaves in the city to return home. Moreover, he declared that the people under his rule should choose their own religion. The Cyrus Cylinder, a clay tablet containing these pronouncements, is one of the first human rights declarations in history.¹

The idea of human rights spread quickly in the ancient world to India and Greece, and eventually Rome. The most important advances since then have included the 1215 British Magna Carta, which not only gave people new rights but also made the king subject to the law; the British 1628 Petition of Right, which formalized the rights of the people; the 1776 United States Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; and the 1789 French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, a document stating that all citizens are equal under the law.²

In response to the crimes against humanity that were committed during the Second World War, the human rights revolution grew rapidly, subsuming claims from minorities, women, the politically oppressed, and marginal communities from around the globe.³

The human rights revolution began with a disarmingly simple idea: that every individual, whatever his or her nationality, political beliefs, or ethnic and religious heritage, possesses an inviolable right to be treated with dignity. From this basic claim grew many more, and ever since, the cascading effect of these initial rights claims has dramatically shaped world history.⁴

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the first document to list the 30 rights to which everyone is entitled, was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 December, 1948.⁵

The first draft of the Declaration was proposed in September 1948 with over 50 Member States participating in the final drafting. By its Resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948, the General Assembly, meeting in Paris, adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with eight nations abstaining from the vote but none dissenting. Hernán Santa Cruz of Chile, member of the drafting sub-Committee, wrote:

“I perceived clearly that I was participating in a truly significant historic event in which a consensus had been reached as to the supreme value of the human person, a value that did not originate in the decision of a worldly power, but rather in the fact of existing - which gave rise to the inalienable right to live free from want and oppression and to fully develop one’s personality. In the Great Hall…there was an atmosphere of genuine solidarity and brotherhood among men and women from all latitudes, the like of which I have not seen again in any international setting.”

The entire text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was composed in less than two years. At a time when the world was divided into Eastern and Western blocs, finding a common ground as to what should constitute the essence of the document proved a colossal task.⁶

1. Adapted from A Look at the Background of Human Rights, http://www.youthforhumanrights.org/what-are-human-rights/background-of-human-rights.html, July 2013

2. Adapted from A Look at the Background of Human Rights, http://www.youthforhumanrights.org/what-are-human-rights/background-of-human-rights.html, July 2013

3. Adapted from The Human Rights Revolution: Description http://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-human-rights-revolution-9780195333145?cc=gb&lang=en&tab=description, July 2013

4. Adapted from The Human Rights Revolution: Description http://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-human-rights-revolution-9780195333145?cc= gb&lang=en&tab=description, July 2013

5. Adapted from History of the Document http://www.un.org/en/documents/ udhr/history.shtml, July 2013

6. Adapted from History of the Document http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/history.shtml, July 2013