Education for Justice (E4J)

Integrity and Ethics

Module 2: Ethics and Universal Values

Universal Declaration of Human Rights
UDHR
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• Proposed by UN General Assembly 1946
• Economic and Social Council tasks Commission on Human Rights
to formulate declaration
• Commission creates committee of 8 members to draft document,
chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt
• UNESCO solicits views from international scholars
• Adopted by the UN General Assembly December 1948
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• Preamble and 30 articles
• Not legally binding (not a treaty)
• ‘Conscience of humanity’
• Dignity just as central as rights
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• Part of the ‘International Bill of Human Rights’
– International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights
– International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
– Optional Protocols to ICCPR
• Other legally binding treaties (Genocide, rights of
children, etc)
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• Human rights institutions
– UN Human Rights Council
– UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
– Universal Periodic Review
• Regional institutions
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• UNESCO Committee
– 1947 UNESCO solicits feedback from philosophers,
political theorists, and theologians
– Results given to committee writing the UDHR, and
published as a book in 1948
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‘It is related that at one of the meetings of a UNESCO National
Commission where Human Rights were being discussed, someone
expressed astonishment that certain champions of violently opposed
ideologies had agreed on a list of those rights. “Yes,” they said, “we agree
about the rights, but on condition that no one asks us why.” That “why” is
where the argument begins.”
Jacques Maritain, ‘Introduction’ Human Rights: Comments and
Interpretations (UNESCO, 1948)
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Members of the Drafting Committee
• Eleanor Roosevelt, former First Lady (Chair)
• Charles Malik, Lebanese Christian scholar and diplomat
• Peng Chun Chang, Chinese Confucian scholar
• John Humphreys, Canadian diplomat
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Philosophical Disagreements
• Article 1: All human beings are both free and equal in dignity and rights.
They are endowed with reason and conscience [by nature] and should
act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood
– Chung insisted no mention of God or nature; Malik strongly argued for mention
of both
– Phrase ‘by nature’ was in an earlier draft, but removed on Chung’s insistence;
argued it would make the document more universal
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Questions
• Rights without foundations?
• Rights or duties?
• Universal or lowest common denominator?