A MAJOR DRAW BACK OF THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a declaration (document) adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in the year 1948 following a massacre killings of the second world war.  It contains thirty articles which are categorized into six different subsequent international treaties and they are as follows; 1) political rights, 2) Civil rights, 3) Equality rights, 4) Economic rights, 5) Social rights and 6) Cultural rights. The declaration was established as a universal standard of achievement for the states and human rights movement across the world.

The document has ushered in a new age of hope for respect of the natural equality and dignity of all human beings. It has set the path for the establishment of an impressive group of international human rights treaties and arrangement of numerous organizations to further their cause. It has brought increased legitimacy to raising human rights issues across the world and ensuring that they are practiced by placing them on the agenda of the national governments and international organizations as a whole. The cluster of momentous generations and events ago- the collapse of the Soviet Union, the fall of the Berlin wall and the extinction of apartheid are all some of the major achievements of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The struggle and continued existence of democracy is also as a result of the existence of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Individual applicant looking for peace and justice has taken heart form this principle. People are free to express their feelings and opinions about issues that they are not comfortable with and this is a proof to the UDHR’s power and influence.  All forms of reform are seen all over the world, women are no longer treated as minors and children are now recognized.

How-ever, there are events from the rest of the world which still depict failures of the Universal declaration of Human Rights. There is still an unpleasant of injustice in the world, systematic maltreatment and genocidal slaughter.There have been numerous incidents of genocide, humane cruelty which includes the massacres of Burundi in 1972, Pol Pot’s terror in Cambodia form 1974 to 1979, Idi Amins’ rule in Uganda from 1974 to 1979. Who would forget the Gulf war of Iraq in 2004 and the Bosnia’s ethnic cleansing in Rwanda and the struggles at Somalia? More deaths are taking place around the world; there is malnutrition of children, ill health and injustice of poverty in some parts of the world including the likes of Zimbabwe. More sickening about it all is the fact that during this crimes women and children are being violated, misused and killed. Also people’s rights to property are being violated as some governments in some countries forces people to evacuate their homes and some people’s privacy is being exposed.  Some people are not even allowed to voice, and these are incidents which show that the Universal declaration Of Human Rights is not achieving its goal.

A major draw back of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is that the declaration is not legally binding. This is to say that members of the organization of the United Nations can not be held legally responsible for if they break their promise to protect and preserve human rights and freedoms.