The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

• Author: Nicolae V. Dura
• Pages: 240-247

European Integration - Realities and Perspectives. Proceedings 2015

240

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Nicolae Dură1

Abstract: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 was preceded by several other Declarations in

the first half of the twentieth century, beginning with the Declaration of 1929 and ending with the one of

1947. All these Declarations make express reference only to the “Human rights” and not to those of the

“individual” or of the “Citizen”, as in the Declaration of the French Revolution, in 1789, o r in the one of the

Bolshevik Revolution, in 1917. Among other things, in our paper, we emphasized that th e Universal

Declaration of Human Rights remains the first legal international instrument that imposed an unitary and

universal conception regarding the human rights and fundamental freedoms, and, ip so facto, of the “Dignitas

humana” (dignity of the human person), to which the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (Lisbon,

2007) would make express reference.

Keywords: the principles of the UN Charter; the human person; the European legislation and jurisprudence;

legal protection

1. Introduction

In 1929, the International Law Institute (New York) developed and published the “International

Declaration of Human Rights”. Among other things, this Declaration stipulates that “it is the

obligation of every State to recognize the equal right of every individual to life, liberty, property, and

to grant to those on its territory full protection of this right without distinction of nationality, sex, race,

language or religion” (Art. 1) (Agi & Cassin, 1998, p. 331).

In 1939, the League of Human Rights brought an addition to the text of the Declaration of 1929, and

made the specification that “human rights apply without distinction of sex, race, nation, religion or

opinion. These inalienable and imprescriptible rights are attached to the human person; they should be

respected at all times, in all places and guaranteed against all forms of political and social oppression.

The international protection of human rights should be universally organized and secured, so that no

state can refuse the exercise of these rights of a single human being living on its territory” (Art. 1)

(Agi & Cassin, 1998, p. 333).

The Addendum to the Declaration specified that it stipulated the rights of the “human being” or of the

“human person” and their international legal protection, and not the rights of the “individual” or of

“citizen”, as the text of the 1789 French Declaration did. However, unfortunately, this last phrase

emerged as a leitmotif not only in the texts emanating from the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 or from

the constitutional text of the countries which entered into the Soviet camp, but even in some texts

1 Professor, PhD, Ovidius University of Constanta, Romania, Address: 124 Mamaia Blvd., Aleea Universității no.1,

Constanta, Romania, Tel./fax: +4 0241670900, Corresponding author: nicolaedidimos@yahoo.com.