COMMENTS ON THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

The Human Rights Law as stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

 

Article 1

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Comment: This article does not totally negate inequalities - ”economic equality, civil equality, physical or mental equality, etc..” were not included in the language of Art.1;   Art.1 is a declarative language stating that “all human beings are born free and equal IN DIGNITY AND RIGHTS”. The term “human being” is used rather than “man”; the purpose of this is to erase the concept of gender classification.

Article 2

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Comment: The phrase “without distinction of any kind” in the first paragraph is only a legal semantic. I believed that an absolute absence of distinction is unattainable and impossible. There are either natural or artificial privileges granted to some persons and cannot be availed by others of which this declaration has no control.

The second paragraph speaks of an ASPIRATION in the mind of the creator of the UDHR. The subsequent lines itself in the second paragraph of Art.2 is already an implied recognition of the distinctions.

Article 3

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Comment: This article speaks of the right to exist and to define his/her existence in accordance with his/her freedom of movement. “Security of person” means that a person has a total discretion of his/her will, belongings, properties, and other things under his/her control; he/she shall not be guided by fears, threats and duress in alll of his/her determination.

Article 4

No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Comment: Art.4 means that a person should not be forced to perform something; when an act is done involuntarily or outside the person’s will, then Art.4 is violated. This does not include an official function saddled with ministerial duties because the act of defiance to the superior authority is considered as insubordination, hence, a ground to dismiss him from the service. 

Article 5

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Comment: Torture and cruelty is not limited only to physical harm, it includes mental [psychological] and spiritual cruelty. Spiritual cruelty does not necessarily mean “spirituality” as defined in religion.

Article 6

Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Comment: A civil interdiction as a result of conviction declared by a court and/or the declaration of persona non grata made by a state against a person may be a violation of Art.6 of the UDHR.

Article 7

All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Comment: This is a situation wherein the “law” is personified. It was almost forgotten in this article that the laws were administered and enforced by human beings capable of inventing rational or irrational distinctions, the same human beings that already perfected the art of making classifications.

Article 8

Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

Comment: This article is not making a standard for the determination on the competence of a national tribunal. When a person’s right is violated and no efffecient remedies in the court, the person will just flourish this article if the UDHR in the air without recourse because the art.8 has no way of checking the competence of a local tribunal.

Article 9

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Comment: This article allows the reader to assume the scope of arbitrary arrest because it did not mention about how and what constitutes arbitrary arrest, detention or exile. Will a “safe-keeping” mean another concept of detention? Will a request preventing a person from leaving from the police station a form of arrest? Will the note stating “better for you to leave the country before dawn, or else..” a form of an exile?

Article 10

Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

Comment: This refers to the right of the accused to be heard publicly before an impartial tribunal. When a judge appeared to have an interest over the case or when a judge appeared to favor the a party, he/she should be disqualified from hearing the case or voluntarily inhibit himself therefrom. A chamber hearing exclusive only for some persons is not allowed under this article.

Article 11

1.        Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.

2.        No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

Comment: We are already living in the system wherein the accusation must not be based on pure allegation but on admissible evidence. In the absence of admissible evidence, it is but a proper rule to presume the innocence of the accused.

The second paragraph speaks of EX POST FACTO LAW where an act cannot be considered as a violation to a law before its enactment; it means that a belated law cannot bind an a previous offense.

Article 12

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Article 13

1.        Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State.

2.        Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

Comment: The term “right” is different from the term “capability”. A person may have the right but does not have the capability. The right to leave a country does not necessarily follow that he can leave a country immediately, there are always a legal and political process to it.

Article 14

1.        Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.

2.        This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 15

1.        Everyone has the right to a nationality.

2.        No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

Comment: When a person is stateless, the right to a nationality may be denied to him/her. The term “nationality” signifies political allegiance to a particular state which may be changed in accordance with some political requirements depending on every counrty. 

Article 16

1.        Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.

2.        Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.

3.        The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

Article 17

1.        Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.

2.        No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

Article 18

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 20

1.        Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

2.        No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 21

1.        Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.

2.        Everyone has the right to equal access to public service in his country.

3.        The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Article 22

Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

Article 23

1.        Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.

2.        Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.

3.        Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.

4.        Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Article 24

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Comment: This article would serve as a recommendation to every nation to create a legislation promoting the welfare of the laborer.

Article 25

1.        Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

2.        Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

Article 26

1.        Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

2.        Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

3.        Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Article 27

1.        Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

2.        Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Article 28

Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

Article 29

1.        Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.

2.        In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.

3.        These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Comment: The observance of human rights is not only a responsibility of one person, everyone has a duty. When all of us be deaf and mute to all human rights violations, then all of these words are worthless.

Article 30

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

Comment: This article provides a standard for legal hermeneutics; it means that interpretation should always be in favor of human rights and not for its destruction.