Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)

As a temporary partial definition, see https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2020/08/human-rights-few-legalistic-pandemic.html. 

The UDHR is not enforceable because it is a Declaration, but its rights have been encoded into the enforceable twin covenants (which I consider more activists should use). From the above link:

The “twin covenants”, the aforementioned International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), were developed (too slowly, thanks to the ideologically driven Cold War - they were opened for signature in 1966, after nearly three decades of wrangling, and took a decade each to collect enough signatures to come into force) to develop a legally binding form of the principles set out in the UDHR.

See also the following, which includes what I consider useful and valid extensions to/updates of the UDHR: 

• https://gnwmythrsglossary.blogspot.com/2021/12/human-rights.html, which includes the following:  
  

On the UDHR, there are some important points that not enough people know about. From Geoffrey Robertson’s “Crimes Against Humanity”, and Mary Ann Glendon’s “A World Made New”:

• the United Nation’s Commission on Human Rights, chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt [4] , supported by Canadian law professor John Humphrey [5] , and with outstanding contributions from China’s PC Cheng [6] and Lebanon’s Charles Malik [7] , and France’s René Cassin [8] , had the task of developing the UDHR;
• the appalling crimes committed by nazi Germany and imperial Japan (see World War (part) Two) were major influences on the Commission’s thinking:

o   “except in cases prescribed by law” was removed from Article 3 because the nazis did many murders in accordance with their perverted laws;

o   parent’s right to choose the education of their children was a reaction to the brainwashing of the nazis;

o   the emphasis on individual rights in response to totalitarianism unfortunately also resulted in minority rights not being protected (also not helped by Australia’s assimilationist thinking);

o   legal protections were partly because of nazi show trials, but others also had a history of show trials;

• the USSR opposed enforceability and eventually got the USA on side so enforceability was removed, giving us “just” a declaration instead (the “twin covenants”, however, make the rights listed in the UDHR enforceable - and Australia suggested an international human rights court). The USSR and its puppets also blocked mention of democracy, but were - together with Central and South American nations and Sweden and Norway - an influence in getting tights to work, education, and basic subsistence included;
• India’s Hansa Mehta [9] was responsible for “human family” being used in the preamble instead of “man”;
• anthropologists warned the Commission, who wanted to avoid cultural imperialism, of the dangers of ethnocentrism, and UNESCO had a group of philosophers perform a cultural survey in 1947 that supported the universality of these rights - it was not thought of as Western or Eurocentric at the time, but as obvious;
• some matters were omitted that would have been possibly beneficial - such as a commentary on economic rights that was based on an ILO definition, and the prevention of statelessness;
• the UDHR was adopted by 48 nations on 10^th December, 1948, with eight nations abstaining - the USSR and 5 of its puppet states, South Africa (which wanted to keep its apartheid laws), and Saudi Arabia (which wanted to punish people who change religion);
• the 56 nations of the General Assembly included 14 Asian, 4 African, and 20 Central or South American nations.

The UDHR lists the following human rights (which I’ve rearranged and abbreviated a little):

• all humans are equal in dignity and rights, and are entitled to rights without discrimination;
• everyone has the right to life, liberty and security;
• slavery and the slave trade is banned in all its forms;
• no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
• everyone has the right to equal treatment before the law (“everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law”) and associated rights;
• everyone has the right to privacy and to the protection of law in that and honour and reputation (and to protection of property);
• everyone has the right to freedom of movement, and to seek asylum;
• everyone has the right to marry and found a family;
• everyone has the right to freedom of thought & religion, to freedom of opinion and expression, of association or not, and to cultural & intellectual rights;
• everyone has the right to take part in the governance of their nation;
• everyone has the right to social services, fair work, and an adequate standard of living;
• right to education.

The are other international treaties which add details or expand on these rights - for instance, the rights of children, and specifics around countering sexism and racism.

•  https://gnwmythrsglossary.blogspot.com/2014/10/human-dignity.html; 

• European Convention of Human Rights:   
• https://www.echr.coe.int/Pages/home.aspx?p=basictexts&c=;   
• https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list?module=treaty-detail&treatynum=005#;  
• https://rm.coe.int/1680a2353d (may be updated from time to time);
• https://www.britannica.com/event/European-Convention-on-Human-Rights-Europe-1950; and 
• https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=European_Convention_on_Human_Rights&oldid=1134250389; 
• the Yogyakarta Principles: 
• https://yogyakartaprinciples.org/;
• http://yogyakartaprinciples.org/principles-en/yp10/; 
• https://www.icj.org/yogyakarta-principles/;  and
  
• https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yogyakarta_Principles&oldid=1127250358.
  

Posts of mine which include or touch on the UDHR include the following (which is not an exhaustive list): 

• https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2022/04/declarations-and-interpetive-guidelines.html;
• https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2021/04/scotts-trampling-on-principle-of.html;
• https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2020/12/human-rights-day.html;
• https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2019/04/human-rights-course-first-study-summary.html;and
  
• https://gnwmythr.blogspot.com/2022/09/post-no-2274-evil-of-utilitarianism-930.html.