Theos-Talk Archives (October 2001 Message tt00467)

Seems the subject of human rights has come up. Since the
watch-word of Amnesty is: don't complain of the dark, light
a candle, I thought - I'll find the human rights on the web
and share them. Seems a bit more useful than political
bickering.

Katinka
[found at http://www.hrweb.org/legal/udhr.html ]

UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

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, colour, sex, 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 the 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 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
Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be
presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law in a
public trial at which he has had all the guarantees
necessary for his defence. 
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
Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence
within the borders of each State. 
Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his
own, and to return to his country. 

Article 14
Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other
countries asylum from persecution. 
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
Everyone has the right to a nationality. 
No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor
denied the right to change his nationality. 

Article 16
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. 
Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full
consent of the intending spouses. 
The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of
society and is entitled to protection by society and the
State. 

Article 17
Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in
association with others. 
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, worship 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
Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and
association. 
No one may be compelled to belong to an association. 

Article 21
Everyone has the right to take part in the government of
his country, directly or through freely chosen
representatives. 
Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in
his country. 
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
Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of
employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and
to protection against unemployment. 
Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to
equal pay for equal work. 
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. 
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
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 circumstances beyond his
control. 
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
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. 
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 friendship among all nations,
racial or religious groups, and shall further the
activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of
peace. 
Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education
that shall be given to their children. 

Article 27
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. 
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
Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the
free and full development of his personality is possible. 
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. 
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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