Abstract
Article 1 of the United Nations Charter states that one of the principal purposes of the United Nations is to achieve international cooperation in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion. On 10 December 1948, the General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and proclaimed the Declaration to be ‘a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations’. Thereafter, 10 December was to be observed annually as Human Rights Day. Articles 1 and 2 of the Declaration state that ‘all human beings are born equal in dignity and rights’, and that all are entitled to the rights set forth in the Declaration regardless of ‘race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status’. Given the state of the world then and today, these rights, although universally accepted in theory, must appear near impossible to attain for a large proportion of mankind in practice.
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References
The Report of the Commission on Global Governance, Our Global Neighbourhood, Oxford University Press, 1995 p. 49.
Human Development Report 1992, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Oxford University Press, 1992 p. iii (Foreword).
Ibid pp. 3–5.
Human Development Report 1994, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Oxford University Press, 1994 pp. 1–2.
Ibid p. 4.
Human Development Report 1996, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Oxford University Press, 1996 p. 1.
Independent 06/05/1995.
Independent 16/11/1995.
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© 1997 Guy Arnold
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Arnold, G. (1997). Human Rights: The Specialized Agencies. In: World Government by Stealth. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230376021_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230376021_12
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