By Rights…

“The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for, among old parchments, or musty records. They are written as with a sunbeam in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.”

Alexander Hamilton, pamphlet The Farmer Refuted, 1775

December 10, 2025 will mark the 77th anniversary of the passage of the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by the then fledgling United Nations. 77 is not an oft

noted anniversary, but this is a document worthy of being noted. [Read as a cute illustrated

version here.]

The UDHR was drafted in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War when “the

international community vowed to never again allow atrocities like those of that conflict to

happen again.” These days the nations of the world could all use a reminder of that commitment.

The remarkable Eleanor Roosevelt chaired the drafting committee of 18 members from a

variety of political, cultural and religious backgrounds. Member input aided in gender neutrality (“All human beings” or “everyone” instead of “all men”) and in recognition of non-Western philosophical viewpoints. At its passage, there were 58 member states in the United Nations, the vast majority of which voted for the adoption of the UDHR. What a challenge it must have been to bring all of those disparate voices into harmony.

The representatives of two countries, Honduras and Yemen, were not present for the vote.

No nation voted against it, but 8 abstained—6 soviet bloc nations (USSR, Poland, Yugoslavia,

Czechoslovakia, Ukraine SSR, Byelorussia SSR) [who knew that at that time some Soviet

republics were independently members of the U.N.] abstained over some ideological differences with it such as the right to leave one’s country (Article 13); South Africa abstained to protect the continuation of its then current policy of apartheid; and Saudi Arabia objected to the right to change one’s religion given by Article 18 as against sharia law.

Today it feels like we are doing a lamentably poor job of following this deeply thoughtful

document, but there is no enforcement mechanism. It is not a treaty, but only a statement of

principles.

Over time, the UDHR became the foundational document for two binding UN Human

Rights covenants, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). These covenants

were passed by the UN General Assembly in 1966, and incorporate many or the same concepts as the UDHR. These covenants, which separate the civil and political concepts from the more personal ones, are legally binding on the signatories, but even the United States has not ratified both. President Carter signed the ICCPR in 1977, and finally in 1992 it was ratified by the U.S. Senate…with reservations, and President George H.W. Bush signed the instrument of ratification. While President Carter also signed the ICESCR in 1977, to my knowledge, the Senate has never ratified it. If the United States cannot commit to these principles, how can we require it of others?

So…the countries of the world know better. They [we?] just don’t seem to want to do better. We’ve got our work cut out for us!