The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is an international document that states human rights are universal - to be enjoyed by all people, no matter who they are or where they live. It was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on the 10th of December 1948.
Australia played a key role. It was one of the eight nations involved in drafting the document.
And the head of Australia’s delegation to the UN, Doctor H V Evatt, known as Doc Evatt, was President of the General Assembly when the document was adopted.
Before the Second World War, it was thought countries were sovereign nations - that what went on within their borders was up to then. But after the conflict, it was decided international standards were needed. The Deputy Director of the Caston Centre for Human Rights at Monash University Law School, Professor Paula Gerber, describes the declaration as "a rulebook for life."
The declaration includes civil and political rights, such as the right to life, freedom, free speech and privacy. It also includes economic, social and cultural rights, such as the right to welfare, housing and healthcare. Countries are not legally required to comply with the declaration. But Professor Gerber says the document has informed attitudes and contributed to behind-the-scenes negotiations and actions that have helped protect people's rights.
One of those areas for improvement, she says, concerns Article 14.
Co-chair of the National Congress of Australia's First People's, Jackie Huggins, says 70 years after the adoption of the declaration human rights are still not universal.
She says higher rates of incarceration, domestic violence, unemployment and housing shortages in Indigenous communities than in non-Indigenous communities show there is not a common standard of care and protection for all people in Australia. She says governments need to make changes.
Professor Paula Gerber believes Australia has also fallen short implementing Article 26.
It states that education should "strengthen respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms".
Professor Gerber would like every child in Australia to be given a copy of the declaration to study it and live by it.
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