Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Questions for Further Study

• 1.: Compare the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with another document that deals with the issue of human rights. Possibilities include Queen Victoria's Proclamation concerning India, Patrice Lumumba's Speech at the Proclamation of Congolese Independence, the Freedom Charter of South Africa, or the Treaty on European Union. What similar themes and motivations connect the two documents?
• 2.: Based on your reading of the document, what cultural differences could have given rise to differences in what constituted a “human right” in the minds of the document's drafters?
• 3.: Why do you think the drafters of the declaration largely sidestepped the issue of colonies and colonization just at the time when many African and Asian colonies were demanding, or beginning to demand, independence?
• 4.: Many nations continue to be the sites of blatant human rights violations, and in most instances the world is unable to do anything about it. In light of this, do you believe that a document such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights serves any real purpose?
• 5.: Discuss the complications that arise when issues such as harsh interrogation of terrorist suspects, capital punishment, and strict religious laws (as in some Muslim countries) are examined in the light of the declaration.