ABSTRACT
The UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on 10 December 1948; however, though critically important as a statement of principles, it is no more than its name suggests: a declaration. At the time when the UDHR was adopted, there was at least a tenable argument that not even strict adherence to the law was an absolute guarantee of respect for human rights. In 1947, Churchill appointed Maxwell Fyfe the Opposition’s representative on the Committee of the European Movement, which by 1948 became responsible for making recommendations on European integration to national governments. Even before the Human Rights Act 1998, the Westminster Government had felt obliged to amend the law in Northern Ireland after the European Court of Human Rights had held in Dudgeon that criminalising homosexual acts breached the applicant’s rights under Article 8.
