Human Rights: The Specialized Agencies

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.