75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Probably the most important document of the century turns 75: December 10, 2023 marks the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Initially drafted by Eleanor Roosevelt (USA) and Dr. Peng-chun Chang (China), representatives of 9 states came to encompass the Drafting Committee who worked on the 30 articles of the declaration which was ultimately voted upon in the UN General Assembly in 1948. The drafting states included: the Soviet Union (USSR), Australia, Chile, Lebanon, France, the United Kingdom and Canada. 48 states voted in favor of the text, 8 abstained (Soviet Union, Belarusian and Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia, Saudi Arabia, Union of South Africa) and 2 states did not vote. Important human rights mechanisms, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights or the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights were adopted in the following years. Currently, 9 international human rights treaties exist whose implementation is monitored by committees of independent experts. In 1993, the UDHR was again reaffirmed by a total of 171 state representatives as part of the Vienna Declaration and Program of Action (VDPA). The UN General Assembly with its 184 Member States endorsed the VDPA again on 20 December 1993, thereby reaffirming their support for the Universal Declaration. They also decided to establish the post of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Although human rights constituite one of the three pillars of the UN system alongside peace, security and development, 75 years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) only receives a tiny part of the UN regular budget, only 4.3% and thus remains severely underfunded.