ABSTRACT

The heinous atrocities committed during World War II alerted the international community to the importance of human rights. People were appalled to learn that “inconceivable acts” were actually carried out at Nazi camps, and after Hiroshima and Nagasaki even human extinction itself seemed a possibility. Science and technology suddenly seemed more likely to damn than save, and humanity had to confront its dark side. Existential questions such as “what is it to be human?” and “what is history?” dominated contemporary discourse. Amid such serious soul searching, the Declaration of Universal Human Rights was announced at the United Nations in 1948. The Declaration, not a binding treaty but rather a statement of principles, was a reaffirmation that humanity was capable of saving itself from its own destructive impulses.