The Universal Declaration of Human Rights - the bedrock of Freedom and Justice

A very happy Human Rights Day, everyone!

Seventy-four years ago on 10 December 1948, the world embraced a set of universal human rights as a common standard for all people and all nations.

The United Nations (UN) unanimously adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), a suite of rights which every human being in the world is entitled to at birth, no matter their citizenship, race or identity. Through the milestone document, Member States of the time made a commitment to collaborate through the UN to promote the respect of fundamental and inalienable human rights.

During this month of December, we celebrate the adoption of the UDHR and the extraordinary accomplishments of human freedom across the world that we owe to it.  While most were not at the table during the drafting and adoption of the UHDR, many former colonies were spurred by the Declaration in their drive to end colonial domination in the 1950s and ‘60s. Bills of rights in many countries’ constitutions draw from the Declaration. A significant achievement in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) includes the dismantling of the apartheid system in South Africa and the subsequent truth and reconciliation process in the late 1990s.

As a “common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations”, the UDHR is a global blueprint for international, national, and local laws and policies and a bedrock of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. The UDHR fosters a sense of common humanity beyond individual differences and has given rise to national, regional and international laws and institutions to help realize all rights: economic, social, cultural, civil and political.

The 30 articles in the UDHR include rights to education, food, clean water, health, and the prohibition of torture, cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. Other rights include freedom of religion or belief, freedoms of expression, association, and peaceful assembly, the right to form and join trade unions and many more.

The UN commends the positive developments in Eswatini including the Kingdom’s participation in the Universal Periodic Review at the Human Rights Council, a peer forum of UN Member States. The introduction by His Majesty King Mswati III of free primary education has gone a long way in realising UHDR’s Art. 26 on the right to education. Likewise, the elevation of gender equality through the country’s 2005 Constitution and other policy instruments contribute to gender mainstreaming and improving the living conditions of women and girls. 

Despite all these efforts, I am deeply concerned with the scourge of violence against women, girls, and children in general. Such acts are, indeed, a violation of the principles of Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They also demean a significant half of the population and injure our children physically and psychologically, often irreparably. My plea is to all of us, and particularly men, to be champions in the fight against the scourge of domestic violence. We also need to work hard to ensure an ever-increasingly quality of education for our children.

The 2030 Agenda for sustainable development is grounded on the UDHR. The drafters of the UDHR understood that the nations of the world had a duty to one another: to stand up for human dignity and protect the human rights to which every person is entitled.  It is not only governments that have this duty.  Governments are, after all, composed of individuals.  Every person has a role to play in protecting and standing up for human rights.

How can we do this? We can all educate ourselves about human rights, learning about the rights guaranteed under the UDHR and about current human rights challenges around the world. 

We can all stand against abuse and join the call for accountability, drawing attention to abuses of human rights anywhere.  We can demand that nations uphold the tenets of the UDHR.

Today, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) – our UN mandated organization on human rights - is launching a global year-long campaign to promote and celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Declaration, which will be celebrated on 10 December 2023. This year-long campaign will honour the Declaration, focusing on its legacy, relevance and activism through the slogan "Dignity, freedom and justice for all".

In Eswatini, the United Nations will partner with the Government through the Commission on Human Rights and Public Administration, under the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, as well as civil society, private sector, academia and religious groups, to educate, promote and empower communities and individuals on the Declaration, promote accountable institutions and an effective judicial system.

We will educate by increasing global knowledge and awareness of the UDHR and its enduring relevance for our times and for the future; and showing how the Declaration has guided the work of UN Human Rights.

We will promote attitude change by countering the increasing skepticism of, and rollbacks against human rights by establishing that human rights are never relative and must always be upheld as what unites all of humanity.

We will empower and mobilize communities and individuals by offering concrete knowledge and tools to help people better fight for their rights.

We need to stand up for our human rights and those of others.  The UDHR calls on everyone to stand up for human rights. We all have a role to play. We can support and learn from one another in our efforts to realise equality for all.

Let us act in our own daily lives, to uphold our rights and rights of others, to work together for a more sustainable, just, and prosperous world - for this generation and those yet to come. Happy Human Rights Day, everyone!

George Wachira is the United Nations Resident Coordinator in the Kingdom of Eswatini.