Simplified Version

This simplified version of the 30 Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has

been created especially for young people.

1. We Are All Born Free & Equal. We are all born free. We all have our own thoughts and
ideas. We should all be treated in the same way.

2. Don’t Discriminate. These rights belong to everybody, whatever our differences.

3. The Right to Life. We all have the right to life, and to live in freedom and safety. 

4. No Slavery. Nobody has any right to make us a slave. We cannot make anyone our
slave. 

5. No Torture. Nobody has any right to hurt us or to torture us. 

6. You Have Rights No Matter Where You Go. I am a person just like you! 

7. We’re All Equal Before the Law. The law is the same for everyone. It must treat us all
fairly. 

8. Your Human Rights Are Protected by Law. We can all ask for the law to help us when
we are not treated fairly. 

9. No Unfair Detainment. Nobody has the right to put us in prison without good reason
and keep us there, or to send us away from our country. 

10. The Right to Trial. If we are put on trial this should be in public. The people who try
us should not let anyone tell them what to do. 

11. We’re Always Innocent Till Proven Guilty. Nobody should be blamed for doing
something until it is proven. When people say we did a bad thing we have the right to show
it is not true. 

12. The Right to Privacy. Nobody should try to harm our good name. Nobody has the
right to come into our home, open our letters, or bother us or our family without a good
reason. 

13. Freedom to Move. We all have the right to go where we want in our own country and
to travel as we wish. 

14. The Right to Seek a Safe Place to Live. If we are frightened of being badly treated in
our own country, we all have the right to run away to another country to be safe. 

15. Right to a Nationality. We all have the right to belong to a country.

History
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10
December 1948, was the result of the experience of the Second World War. With the end of that war,
and the creation of the United Nations, the international community vowed never again to allow
atrocities like those of that conflict happen again. World leaders decided to complement the UN Charter
with a road map to guarantee the rights of every individual everywhere. The document they considered,
and which would later become the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, was taken up at the first
session of the General Assembly in 1946.

The Assembly reviewed this draft Declaration on Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms and
transmitted it to the Economic and Social Council "for reference to the Commission on Human Rights for
consideration . . . in its preparation of an international bill of rights." The Commission, at its first session
early in 1947, authorized its members to formulate what it termed "a preliminary draft International Bill
of Human Rights". Later the work was taken over by a formal drafting committee, consisting of members
of the Commission from eight States, selected with due regard for geographical distribution.

The Commission on Human Rights was made up of 18 members from various political, cultural and
religious backgrounds. Eleanor Roosevelt, widow of American President Franklin D. Roosevelt, chaired
the UDHR drafting committee. With her were René Cassin of France, who composed the first draft of the
Declaration, the Committee Rapporteur Charles Malik of Lebanon, Vice-Chairman Peng Chung Chang of
China, and John Humphrey of Canada, Director of the UN’s Human Rights Division, who prepared the
Declaration’s blueprint. But Mrs. Roosevelt was recognized as the driving force for the Declaration’s
adoption.

The Commission met for the first time in 1947. In her memoirs, Eleanor Roosevelt recalled:

“Dr. Chang was a pluralist and held forth in charming fashion on the proposition that there is more than
one kind of ultimate reality. The Declaration, he said, should reflect more than simply Western ideas
and Dr. Humphrey would have to be eclectic in his approach. His remark, though addressed to Dr.
Humphrey, was really directed at Dr. Malik, from whom it drew a prompt retort as he expounded at
some length the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas. Dr. Humphrey joined enthusiastically in the discussion,
and I remember that at one point Dr. Chang suggested that the Secretariat might well spend a few
months studying the fundamentals of Confucianism!”

The final draft by Cassin was handed to the Commission on Human Rights, which was being held in
Geneva. The draft declaration sent out to all UN member States for comments became known as the
Geneva draft.

The first draft of the Declaration was proposed in September 1948 with over 50 Member States
participating in the final drafting. By its resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948, the General
Assembly, meeting in Paris, adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with eight nations
abstaining from the vote but none dissenting. Hernán Santa Cruz of Chile, member of the drafting sub-
Committee, wrote:

“I perceived clearly that I was participating in a truly significant historic event in which a consensus had
been reached as to the supreme value of the human person, a value that did not originate in the
decision of a worldly power, but rather in the fact of existing—which gave rise to the inalienable right to
live free from want and oppression and to fully develop one’s personality. In the Great Hall…there was
an atmosphere of genuine solidarity and brotherhood among men and women from all latitudes, the
like of which I have not seen again in any international setting.”

The entire text of the UDHR was composed in less than two years. At a time when the world was divided
into Eastern and Western blocks, finding a common ground on what should make the essence of the
document proved to be a colossal task.
Case Law and Legislation part 2

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10
December 1948, was the result of the experience of the Second World War. With the end of that war,
and the creation of the United Nations, the international community vowed never again to allow
atrocities like those of that conflict happen again. World leaders decided to complement the UN Charter
with a road map to guarantee the rights of every individual everywhere. The document they considered,
and which would later become the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, was taken up at the first
session of the General Assembly in 1946.

The Assembly reviewed this draft Declaration on Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms and
transmitted it to the Economic and Social Council "for reference to the Commission on Human Rights for
consideration . . . in its preparation of an international bill of rights." The Commission, at its first session
early in 1947, authorized its members to formulate what it termed "a preliminary draft International Bill
of Human Rights". Later the work was taken over by a formal drafting committee, consisting of members
of the Commission from eight States, selected with due regard for geographical distribution.

The Commission on Human Rights was made up of 18 members from various political, cultural and
religious backgrounds. Eleanor Roosevelt, widow of American President Franklin D. Roosevelt, chaired
the UDHR drafting committee. With her were René Cassin of France, who composed the first draft of the
Declaration, the Committee Rapporteur Charles Malik of Lebanon, Vice-Chairman Peng Chung Chang of
China, and John Humphrey of Canada, Director of the UN’s Human Rights Division, who prepared the
Declaration’s blueprint. But Mrs. Roosevelt was recognized as the driving force for the Declaration’s
adoption.

The Commission met for the first time in 1947. In her memoirs, Eleanor Roosevelt recalled:

“Dr. Chang was a pluralist and held forth in charming fashion on the proposition that there is more than
one kind of ultimate reality. The Declaration, he said, should reflect more than simply Western ideas
and Dr. Humphrey would have to be eclectic in his approach. His remark, though addressed to Dr.
Humphrey, was really directed at Dr. Malik, from whom it drew a prompt retort as he expounded at
some length the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas. Dr. Humphrey joined enthusiastically in the discussion,
and I remember that at one point Dr. Chang suggested that the Secretariat might well spend a few
months studying the fundamentals of Confucianism!”

The final draft by Cassin was handed to the Commission on Human Rights, which was being held in
Geneva. The draft declaration sent out to all UN member States for comments became known as the
Geneva draft.

The first draft of the Declaration was proposed in September 1948 with over 50 Member States
participating in the final drafting. By its resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948, the General
Assembly, meeting in Paris, adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with eight nations
abstaining from the vote but none dissenting. Hernán Santa Cruz of Chile, member of the drafting sub-
Committee, wrote:

“I perceived clearly that I was participating in a truly significant historic event in which a consensus had
been reached as to the supreme value of the human person, a value that did not originate in the
decision of a worldly power, but rather in the fact of existing—which gave rise to the inalienable right to
live free from want and oppression and to fully develop one’s personality. In the Great Hall…there was
an atmosphere of genuine solidarity and brotherhood among men and women from all latitudes, the
like of which I have not seen again in any international setting.”

The entire text of the UDHR was composed in less than two years. At a time when the world was divided
into Eastern and Western blocks, finding a common ground on what should make the essence of the
document proved to be a colossal task.

The Legislation and Case Law section provides an overview of anti-trafficking European and international
legislation and relevant case law of EU Member States. National legislation can be found in the Member
States and EU policy documents in the EU Policy section.

The international legislative anti-trafficking framework has been consolidated through the elaboration of
several instruments. On the international level, the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and
Punish Trafficking in Persons and at regional level the2005 Council of Europe Convention on Action
against Trafficking in Human Beings are key instruments.

At the EU level, the new Directive 2011/36/EU, on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings
and protecting its victims, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2002/629/JHA, has been formally
adopted on the 5 April 2011. It makes explicit that the definition of trafficking in human beings covers
also trafficking for forced begging, for the exploitation of criminal activities, for the removal of organs as
well as for illegal adoption or forced marriages. The instrument also introduces tougher penalties for
traffickers as well as better protection of and assistance to victims. It is based on international standards
and further expands them.

Complementary to this, the Council Directive 2004/81 introduced a residence permit for victims who
cooperate with the competent authorities. This means that every victim of human trafficking who is not
an EU national and is staying irregularly should be offered a so-called reflection period. During this
period, the victim can make a decision on whether to cooperate with the authorities in criminal
proceedings.

Pertaining to case law, there is an increasing body of jurisprudence on trafficking in human beings.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
One part of the International Bill of Human Rights adopted by General Assembly Resolution 217 (III) of
10 December 1948. The two other parts of the International Bill of Rights are
International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

International Bill of Human Rights [OHCHR Fact Sheet]

The Core International Human Rights Instruments and their monitoring bodies
Includes all ten core international human rights instruments (9 human rights treaties and the Optional
Protocol to the Convention Against Torture) as well as the committee of experts established to monitor
implementation of the treaty provisions by its States' parties.
Drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Dag Hammarskjöld Library Research Guide. Provides access to United Nations documentation related to
the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Universal Human Rights Index
This database provides easy access to country-specific human rights information emanating from
international human rights mechanisms in the United Nations system: the Treaty Bodies, the Special
Procedures, and the Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
United Nations
United Nations Treaty Collection
includes the following:
United Nations Treaty Series Online Collection
can be searched by popular name and participant country
United Nations Treaty Series Cumulative Index
Monthly Statement of Treaties and International Agreements
Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General
find the status of treaties going back to the League of Nations.
Depositary Notifications (CNs) by the Secretary-General

UN Official Documents System (ODS)

Provides full-text search of documents; resolutions of all principal organs; and Security Council plenary
documents back to 1946.
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
Human Rights Bodies
"made up of independent experts mandated to monitor State parties' compliance with their treaty
obligations"
Treaty bodies Search
Treaty bodies Jurisprudence
Jurisprudence from the United Nations Treaty Bodies including interpretations of human rights law, and
recommendations and findings issued by Treaty-based bodies.
Charter-Based Bodies Document Search
Universal Periodic Review (UPR)
"a unique process which involves a review of the human rights records of all UN Member States."
Further Research
University of Minnesota Human Rights Library
houses one of the largest collections of core human rights documents, including:
Human Rights Treaties and Other Instruments
International Human Rights Instruments - by Topic
International Human Rights Instruments
complete list of Human Rights Treaties and other Instruments
Ratification of International Human Rights Treaties by Country
University of Minnesota Human Rights Library Search Resources

The United Nations Human Rights Treaties [bayefsky.com]

a website designed to enhance the implementation of UN human rights legal standards. Provides a
range of data concerning the application of the UN human rights treaty system by its monitoring treaty
bodies since their inauguration in the 1970s.
International Human Rights Cases Combined (via LexisNexis Academic)
Contains full-text human rights cases from international and national courts and tribunals selected by
and reported in the series Butterworths Human Rights Cases (BHRC) from 1996, and from the European
Court of Human Rights (ECHR) from November 1960.