ABSTRACT
In 1948, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) for all people and all nations.1 Such a proclamation was one of the first collective expressions of an international community. Fifty-six United NationsMember States from different regions around the world affirmed the inherent dignity of humankind and placed the well-being of the individual at the heart of international law. Born of a shared condemnation of the atrocities committed during the Second
World War, the UDHR provided the world with the first universal statement on the basic principles of inalienable human rights. To this day, the Declaration has been translated into 337 different languages; it has affected and shaped national and international legal systems and it has been central in the promotion of political debates and philosophical discussions. The literature in this area is immense, and it is impossible in just one monograph to take into account the vast array of issues, debates and theories concerning the Declaration’s effect on the application and enforcement of human rights.2
