Philosopher A.C. Grayling has launched a daily blogging campaign, celebrating the ten days leading up to the 60th year anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights on December 10. In his first installment, Grayling marvels at what truly was one of the most impressive accomplishments of this past century.
On December 10 1948, the member states of the United Nations, assembled at the Palais de Chaillot in Paris, did a truly remarkable thing: they adopted without dissent a declaration stating that because human rights constitute the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world, all peoples and nations should strive to observe them and promote respect for them. And then, in 30 unequivocal paragraphs, the declaration listed what those human rights are [emphasis mine].
And while implementation of these human rights worldwide has only been achieved in fits and starts, these trials and tribulations should do nothing to diminish the significance of the Declaration — or dissuade anyone of its potential in the future.
Keep checking back at The Guardian‘s Comment is Free site for the upcoming installments of Grayling’s daily human rights blogging. And don’t cross your fingers for that partridge in a pear tree.
(image of just one of the Declaration’s thirty enumerated rights, from flickr user Jordan Lewin under a Creative Commons license)