The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which celebrates three quarters of a century this Sunday, has inspired the constitutions of numerous states. Eleanor Roosevelt was responsible for presenting the text UN General Assembly in 1948.
The world has thus taken a decisive step Barbarism and horror lived in World War II. “We were setting out for a new world in which there had to be peace, a world with rights, a world in which everyone should be equal,” explains Karlos Castilla Juárez, professor of international law at Pompeu Fabra University, in laSexta.
Although it was not a binding document, numerous nations incorporated the text into their constitutions. The lawyer Patricia Fernández Vicens recalls that “it was necessary to put an end to the possibility of further genocides in other parts of the world.” Consensus is essential and it is what we have today Commitment to preservation“.
The declaration marked the fate that humanity was to meet. But the violation of human rights has happened all over the world in these years. Between 2000 and 2022, one and a half million people became victims of wars. Fernández Vicens regrets that “human rights are also violated at our borders: they are violated in the richest societies of the Global North when they do not exist.” fair distribution of wealth“.
In this sense, Castilla Juárez warns that “economic interests and geopolitics are unfortunately more important than human dignity or human well-being in general.” That's why it's as necessary today as it was in 1948. justification and protection the declaration.