Francis Berger
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So, How's the UN's Declaration of Human Rights Holding Up?

2/22/2021

11 Comments

 
Remember the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights? So, how's that holding up as we approach the one year anniversary of the birdemic in the West?

I'm not a human rights lawyer, but I thought it might be a good idea to peruse this "sacred" document from a layman's perspective in an effort to decipher just where the UN's sacrosanct human rights declaration stands today. 

I have emphasized "problematic" areas in bold.

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. 


Well, I have to say, I am very thankful for the UN's declaration. Goodness only knows where we might be if it didn't exist. 


11 Comments
NLR link
2/23/2021 02:07:28

It says something about where we are that you can say so much simply by bolding passages in the declaration.

It reminds me of a scene in Gene Wolfe's "Book of the New Sun." The story takes place in a far future South America which is at war with North America. The North Americans can only speak by quoting approved texts that they have memorized. And they say what they want to say by quoting specific passages verbatim.

There is a scene where an injured soldier tells a story to South Americans by this method and another North American who can speak normally translates.

We're not there yet, but we're getting closer.

Reply
Francis Berger
2/23/2021 07:45:22

@ NLR - That sounds like an interesting book. I'll have to check it out.

Reply
NLR link
2/23/2021 02:16:59

To add to my comment:

This is a creative post

Just as in that story memorized propaganda texts are used to have a normal conversation, it's incredible that an official document can be quoted to show that those who profess to believe it are doing the exact opposite.

Reply
Francis Berger
2/23/2021 07:52:28

NLR - It's creative, but sad. Anyway, yes, I think this is more proof positive that we have reached the point (as if additional proof were actually needed at this point). All the same, the gray area is gone. It's all out in the open - yet very few people seem to know or care. Perhaps that indicates that they have already made their choice.

I was inspired to revisit this document because the back during the mass migration of 2015, many articles within this declaration were employed to defend and justify the mass movement of mostly undocumented people from around the world. Of course, the declaration has barely been mentioned at all since then, which is rather telling.

Reply
Michelle
2/23/2021 03:38:56

Awww, they were so cute back then with their funny and cuddly document. Good thing the UN got woke-y and stuff.

Reply
bruce charlton
2/23/2021 10:53:27

Of course 'human rights' were evil by intention; and a quick sampling of human rights lawyers, organizations and advocates; shows this group to be among the most strategically evil in the world.

As usual, They work by proposing a series of absolute, abstract, totalizing and contradictory principles - and (because only They have the power to implement them) choosing which to apply in any particular instance - as expedient for their purposes.

Reply
Francis Berger
2/23/2021 11:25:54

@ Bruce - "Of course 'human rights' were evil by intention; and a quick sampling of human rights lawyers, organizations and advocates; shows this group to be among the most strategically evil in the world."

Yes, of course, and yet many moderns still read tripe such as the declaration and believe it to be good - inspired by good motivations - even now, they believe the UN and other organizations/governments are protecting their "rights."

Human rights are very much like the fuzzy concepts surrounding dehumanization. If we don't believe in and commit ourselves to God and choose instead to abide by and be ruled by "absolute, abstract, totalizing, and contradictory principles" such as these, we deny the very essence that makes us human and essentially dehumanize ourselves. Hence, we have no real "rights" of which to speak, which is exactly why strategic evil can issue declarations like this and then go about trampling all over it openly, all without a murmur of protest or opposition.

Reply
William James Tychonievich link
2/24/2021 11:02:13

I'd never read this before. Besides the obvious contrast with 2020-21 conditions worldwide, I was surprised by Article 21(3). Did they just say that votocracy is the *only* legitimate form of government recognized by the UN?

Reply
Francis Berger
2/24/2021 20:25:58

@ Wm - Yes, that is what it says, but what does it matter? It's not like there's a shred of sincerity in any of the articles. I guess they like votocracy best because it is the most corrupt/corruptible.

I first read this declaration about two decades ago. Even then my initial impression was that it was a load of bunk. You can imagine what it felt to re-read this declaration now.

Anyway, the UN's declaration is just an rehash of the original Declaration of the Right of Man and the Citizen published in France in 1789.

https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b52410.html

Reply
Francis Berger
2/24/2021 20:30:57

Wm - Also, they like votocracy because it is the bedrock of liberal Western democracy - but they've overturned Western liberal democracy now - so none of what is contained in any of these declarations means anything anymore, not even symbolically.

Lady Mermaid link
2/26/2021 01:47:01

Votocracy is now officially a fig leaf that means nothing. The Rubicon was crossed in 2020. A lot of people speculated it would be crossed by Trump. However, it was crossed by the system itself. The guards protecting "democracy" show that the regime no longer cares about legitimacy. The technicalities are still in place, but the republic has ended. Caesar Augustus never formally disbanded the Senate but everyone knew it was a farce no longer possessing any real power.

We must now let God lead us into something better. We can create beauty from the ashes of the failed votocracy.


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