HUMAN RIGHTS | Defending human dignity
01 May 2008
Universal Declaration of Human Rights Remains Relevant
Eleanor Roosevelt remembered for her activism on human rights
Washington -- The standards of the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) -- now 60 years old -- remain as relevant and meaningful as ever, says Allida Black, a research professor of history and international affairs at the George Washington University and the project director and editor of The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers.
“I think they are the principles of all time, and the beacon which must guide the future” Black said of the UDHR during an April 30 Ask America Webchat with participants from around the globe. She said the issues addressed by the UDHR -- hunger, poverty, education, dissent, health, family, wages, faith, peace, freedom from torture, the right to a nationality, safe working conditions -- affect the lives of all people in every culture in every region.
The declaration arose in the aftermath of World War II, when the international community recognized the need for a codified instrument to protect human rights. The UDHR was the culmination of a two-year drafting process by representatives from Australia, Chile, China, France, Lebanon, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The U.N. General Assembly adopted the UDHR on December 10, 1948. It was the first document to articulate universal human rights and fundamental freedoms, and also was the first espousing universal principles to be adopted by an international organization. Considered one of the first major achievements of the United Nations, the UDHR is the foundation of international human rights law.
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT, A CHAMPION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Eleanor Roosevelt, widow of U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, is recognized as the driving force behind the declaration. “No one else had the skills, the international standing, the patience and the unquestioning commitment Eleanor Roosevelt possessed,” Black said.
The former first lady chaired the drafting commission. “She worked them hard -- often till 2 a.m. -- and strove to have all voices heard,” Black said during the webchat.
When the Soviet bloc (the Soviet Union and the countries it controlled) continued to obstruct progress and to rotate delegates to the commission, Roosevelt lost patience, Black said. “She then broke with convention and used her daily newspaper column My Day to challenge them in blunt, political/personal language -- language she could not use in the commission itself,” Black said.
Roosevelt was not afraid to challenge U.S. officials, either, according to Black. Several political appointees at the U.S. Department of State disapproved of her strong positions, Black said. “They often tried to block her stances -- especially related to social and economic rights -- but she rarely backed down,” Black said.
Roosevelt, according to Black, “strove to find language the [State] Department -- and especially the political appointees -- could embrace to support actions she thought essential to constructing and protecting human rights. … Eleanor Roosevelt thought results more important than rhetoric and posturing.”
REMEMBERING ELEANOR ROOSEVELT’S COURAGE
In today’s world, according to Black, there are a number of human rights champions that have Roosevelt’s courage and commitment. But “there is no one who commands the worldwide reverence that Eleanor Roosevelt held,” Black said.
Black, who has written several books on Eleanor Roosevelt, is determined that the former first lady’s many achievements not be forgotten as the anniversary of the declaration approaches. “People need to know the courage she displayed, the ferocity of her leadership, and her unwavering commitment to its [the UDHR’s] adoption,” Black said.
Black said she carries in her wallet the words of “comfort and courage” with which Roosevelt addressed the United Nations on March 27, 1953:
“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home -- so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any map of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person: The neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.”
A transcript of the Black webchat is available on the Ask America Web page.
For more information on the life of Eleanor Roosevelt, see: “Anna Eleanor Roosevelt: First Lady of the World.”
For more on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, see “December 10 Marks Human Rights Day.”
