On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the full text of which appears in the following pages. Following this historic act the Assembly called upon all Member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and “to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories.”

Useful Links

• Other language versions
• Human Rights Day 10 December
• 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

PREAMBLE

Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,

Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,

Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,

Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,

Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

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.

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.

Article 3.

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

Article 4.

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

Article 5.

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

Article 6.

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

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.

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.

Article 9.

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

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.

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.

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.

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 of 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.

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.

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.

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Please view this video where I describe the crucial importance of using a digital recorder. Under the Criminal Code you may covertly (secretly) record ANY conversation with ANYONE. You can tell them that you are recording if you chose, but not telling them will give you unabated material. Sometimes you want them to know you are taping to keep them in check in a given situation.

Your first and very powerful line of defense with CAS or anyone is to get them on tape violating your rights, Criminal Code, any of the Acts, The Canadian Charter of Rights or any Legislation or simply being abusive and violating moral and ethical standards. This is especially useful in cases of Perjury and Public Mischief (misleading and investigation).

My tape recording kept me out of jail and saved me tens of thousands of dollars!

Anyone that needs further information or clarification can contact me directly in confidence. Please share this link with anyone you know to help them understand the value and protection recording will afford you and them

Respectfully,
Attila L. Vinczer

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Re: Peacock Poverty

I, David Thomasson have begun a new Charter of Rights challenge against ODSP Act discrimination.  I am trying to spread the word that the ODSP Act violates the Charter Rights of disabled people on ODSP. Please check out my website and let me know what you think. I welcome suggestions about how to reach more people.  I hope to empower people to challenge their MPPs to stop ODSP discrimination.

I am hoping to use the “Prove Me Wrong” challenge to empower disable people to question their MPPs. Without offering a prize, any person can confidently assert the ODSP Act violates the Charter and is therefore a unconstitutional and illegitimate law persecuting disabled people.  In addition to public postings I routinely inform the premier’s office, the attorney general’s office, and my mpp that I will stop opposing ODSP if anyone can prove the ODSP Act fully complies with the Charter. No one every replies, and no one has accused me of libel or factual inaccuracies. The Ontario government just keeps abusing people because it is easier than changing the ODSP Act.

Cheers, Dave.”

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by Cheryl Duggan

Making Rights Matter was part of a two day dialogue with Miloon Kothari, the United Nations first Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing. The Special Rapporteurs job is to investigate, monitor and recommend solutions to human rights problems. They are critical in their views and forthright with their recommendation … even with the United Nations.

Before Miloon Kothari was appointed as special rapporteur the housing situation was worsening around the world. Once appointed as Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing Kothari developed a more wholistic approach going beyond the recognized economic, social, and cultural rights arguments.

The positional mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing is that every man, woman, and child has the right to a safe, and secure home, in order to live in peace and dignity.

The main findings of Miloon Kothari’s reports have universal implications. The commonalities between so-called developed and developing countries are staggering. There is a lack of a rights based approach to housing issues. There is no adequate assessment of the scale of the problem (including lack of accurate numbers of homeless persons). That is probably directly related not having a clear definition of homeless. Without a defintion and number it is impossible to assess different aspects of homelessness. Some important information that could be gleaned from those numbers, if available, would be how people become homeless, the disproportionate representation of various marginalized communities, and the societal segregation created within certain cities.

The most disturbing fact to Miloon Kothari during his consultations as the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing was that even when data was available on homelessness, or other housing issues, the governments did not use it!

Miloon Kothari believes that the housing/homelessness crisis stems from four main issues:
1 – An obsession with home ownership.
2 – A limited consultation with those who are actually affected by homelessness or inadequate housing
3 – A lack of focus on how housing impacts other basic human rights.
4 – No housing policy for the bottom twenty percent of the population.

Miloon Kothari cautions against considering privatization of housing initiatives as is a common neo-liberal approach. He warns that privatization costs jobs and an increase in fees for the marginalized. (Service to poor communities costs up to 20 times the rates paid by wealthy communities). To top that off the companies, who often turn out to be multinationals become accountable to share holders ignoring any accountability to their customers.

There is an effort to increase awareness about social control policies that have encouraged the creation of more gated communities while the poor are forcibly evicted from their homes. Those unfortunate enough to end up on the streets face the double indignity of vagrancy laws. Which is still better off than those fighting land claims who are being tried under anti-terrorist laws.

Miloon Kothari had three recommendation that he referred to as “protection ideas”. They include:
1 – adopt a combination of a humanitarian and human rights approaches to housing and homelessness issues
2 – urgent need for assessment methods in an effort to gage actual progress
3 – much more work with civil society groups integrating the expertise and information that government can use.

Several other speakers had important inclusions to the discussion.

For instance Michael Shapcott was impressed when Miloon Kothari began his housing/homelessnes discussions in Canada a decade ago. It was revolutionary at the time to consult 50 -50 between civil society and the government.

Michael has seen evidence that Miloon’s work is having a positive impact on housing issues across Canada. He mentioned a squatters camp in Edmonton, Alberta where a full scale eviction process was halted. The government was reminded of its obligation to relocate the individuals and families. Once reminded the government immediately sent in social workers to assist with the resettlement process.

Sonny Yeung, a Toronto mayoral candidate was asking what could be done within local communities to change the status quo.

A Toronto Community Housing Corporation tenant representative recommended everyone become human rights ambassadors. She also indicated that she was sad today because there did not appear to be anyone in attendance from the Ministry of Housing or mainstream media. The implication being that those that can make the changes, or those that can get the messages out, are not setting human rights high on their list of priorities.

Making Rights Matter was a great way to end the beginning of formal discussions that made up the series of events titled Health, Housing and Human Rights: Exploring the Connections in Canada and Globally.

As was stated during opening remarks the issue of human rights is not just about what developing countries need to do to improve human rights, or about what developed countries can do for developing nations. It is also about what the developed nations can do to improve human rights within their own borders.

During Miloon Kothari’s concluding comments he insisted that he keeps returning to Canada because he sees great potential for positive change. It is about time that Canada is seen as the human rights ambassador at home, as it often is abroad.

BLACK HAT MEDIA

http://www.blackhatmedia.ca/index.php?pr=Making_Rights_Matter

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