United Nations General Assembly in 1948 by Eleanor

 Passage 1 is adapted from a speech delivered to the
United Nations General Assembly in 1948 by Eleanor
Roosevelt, “On the Adoption of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights.” Passage 2 is adapted from Eric Posner, “The Case against Human Rights.” ©2014 by Guardian
News and Media Limited.
Passage 1
In giving our approval to the declaration today, it
is of primary importance that we keep clearly in mind
the basic character of the document. It is not a treaty it
is not an international agreement. It is not and does not
purport to be a statement of law or of legal obligation.
It is a Declaration of basic principles of human rights
and freedoms, to be stamped with the approval of the
General Assembly by formal vote of its members, and
to serve as a common standard of achievement for all
peoples of all nations.
We stand today at the threshold of a great event both
in the life of the United Nations and in the life of
Mankind, . . .
At a time when there are so many issues on which we
find it difficult to reach a common basis of agreement,
it is a significant fact that 58 states have found such a
large measure of agreement in the complex field of
human rights. This must be taken as testimony of our
common aspiration first voiced in the Charter of the
United Nations to lift men
every where to a higher standard of life and to a greater
enjoyment of freedom. Man’s desire for peace lies behind
this Declaration. The realization that the flagrant
violation of human rights by Nazi and
Fascist countries sowed the seeds of the last world
war has supplied the impetus for the work which brings
us to the moment of achievement here today.
In a recent speech in Canada, Gladstone Murray
said:
The central fact is that man is fundamentally a moral
being, that the light we have is imperfect
does not matter so long as we are always trying
to improve it. . . we are equal in sharing the
moral freedom that distinguishes us as men.
Man’s status makes each individual an end in
himself. No man is by nature simply the servant
of the state or of another man . . . the ideal and
fact of freedom—and not technology—are the true
distinguishing marks of our civilization
This Declaration is based upon the spiritual fact
that man must have freedom in which to develop his
full stature and through common effort to raise the
level of human dignity. We have much to do to fully
achieve and to assure the rights set forth in this
Declaration. But having them put before us with the
moral backing of 58 nations will be a great step
forward.
Passage 2
Many people argue that the incorporation of the
idea of human rights into international law is one of
the great moral achievements of human history.
Because human rights law gives rights to all people
regardless of nationality, it deprives governments of
their traditional riposte when foreigners criticise
them for abusing their citizens –namely
“sovereignty” (which is law-speak for “none of your
business”). Thus, international human rights law
provides people with invaluable protections against
the power of the state.
And yet it is hard to avoid the conclusion that
governments continue to violate human rights with
impunity. Why, for example, do more than
150 countries (out of 193 countries that belong to the
UN) engage in torture? Why has the number of
authoritarian countries increased in the last several
years? Why do women remain a subordinate class in
nearly all countries of the world? Why do children
continue to work in mines and factories in so many
countries?
The truth is that human rights law has failed to
accomplish its objectives. There is little evidence that
human rights treaties, on the whole, have improved
the wellbeing of people. The reason is that human
rights were never as universal as people hoped, and
the belief that they could be forced upon countries as
a matter of international law was shot through with
misguided assumptions from the very beginning. . . .
Although the modern notion of human rights
emerged during the 18th century, it was on
December 10, 1948, that the story began in earnest,
with the adoption of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights by the UN general assembly. The
declaration arose from the ashes of the second world
war and aimed to launch a new, brighter era of
international relations. . . .
The weaknesses that would go on to
undermine human rights law were there from the
start. The universal declaration was not a treaty in
the formal sense: no one at the time believed that itcreated legally binding obligations. It was not ratified
by nations but approved by the general assembly, and
the UN charter did not give the general assembly the
power to make international law. Moreover, the
rights were described in vague, aspirational terms,
which could be interpreted in multiple ways.

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