Universal Declaration of Human Rights
( versions in other languages available @[EMAIL PROTECTED]
)
Article 1.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
They are endowed with reason and conscience and should
act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2.
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in
this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race,
color, ***, language, religion, political or other opinion, national
or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no
distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional
or international status of the country or territory to which a person
belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or
under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Article 3.
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 4.
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the
slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
Article 5.
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 6.
Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person
before the law.
Article 7.
All are equal before the law and are entitled without any
discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to
equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this
Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
Article 8.
Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent
national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights
granted him by the constitution or by law.
Article 9.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
Article 10.
Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by
an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his
rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.
Article 11.
(1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be
presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public
trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
(2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account
of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence,
under national or international law, at the time when it was
committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one
that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.
Article 12.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his
privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon
his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the
protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
Article 13.
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and
residence within the borders of each state.
(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his
own, and to return to his country.
Article 14.
(1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other
countries asylum from persecution.
(2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions
genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts
contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 15.
(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality
nor denied the right to change his nationality.
Article 16.
(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation
due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to
marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal
rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
(2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and
full consent of the intending spouses.
(3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of
society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.
Article 17.
(1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as
well as in association with others.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
Article 18.
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience
and religion; this right includes freedom to change his
religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community
with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion
or belief in teaching, practice, wor****p and observance.
Article 19.
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression;
this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference
and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through
any media and regardless of frontiers.
Article 20.
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly
and association.
(2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
Article 21.
(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of
his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
(2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public
service in his country.
(3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority
of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and
genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal
suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent
free voting procedures.
Article 22.
Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social
security and is entitled to realization, through national effort
and international co-operation and in accordance with the
organization and resources of each State, of the economic,
social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and
the free development of his personality.
Article 23.
(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of
employment, to just and favourable conditions of work
and to protection against unemployment.
(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to
equal pay for equal work.
(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable
remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence
worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by
other means of social protection.
(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade
unions for the protection of his interests.
Article 24.
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including
reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic
holidays with pay.
Article 25.
(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for
the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including
food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social
services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment,
sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of
livelihood in cir***stances beyond his control.
(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care
and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock,
shall enjoy the same social protection.
Article 26.
(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be
free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages.
Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and
professional education shall be made generally available
and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on
the basis of merit.
(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of
the human personality and to the strengthening of respect
for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote
understanding, tolerance and friend****p among all nations,
racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of
the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education
that shall be given to their children.
Article 27.
(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural
life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific
advancement and its benefits.
(2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral
and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary
or artistic production of which he is the author.
Article 28.
Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in
which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration
can be fully realized.
Article 29.
(1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone
the free and full development of his personality is possible.
(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone
shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined
by law 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.
(3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised
contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 30.
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying
for any State, group or person any right to engage in any
activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of
any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.
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This is a full text version, which was adopted and proclaimed
by General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December,
1948 "to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and
expounded principally in schools and other educational
institutions, without distinction based on the political status
of countries or territories."
Its PREAMBLE, if you'd care to know about, is written below:
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal
and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is
the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have
resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience
of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings
shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from
fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration
of the common people,
Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to
have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny
and oppression, that human rights should be protected by
the rule of law,
Whereas it is essential to promote the development of
friendly relations between nations,
Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the
Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights,
in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the
equal rights of men and women and have determined to
promote social progress and better standards of life in
larger freedom,
Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to
achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the
promotion of universal respect for and observance of
human rights and fundamental freedoms,
Whereas a common understanding of these rights and
freedoms is of the greatest im****tance for the full
realization of this pledge,
Now, Therefore 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.
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