The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its legal status

The most famous human rights document in the world is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Its main essence is the recognition of the inherent value of human life, as well as the principle of priority of individual rights over the rights of the state and its sovereignty. 1945, when the United Nations was proclaimed at the conference in London, made the greatest progress in history and the sphere of human rights possible. Paragraph 3 of the first article of the Charter of the United Nations speaks of one of the primary goals of this organization - the achievement of international cooperation for the promotion and spread of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, regardless of language, religion, gender or race. This Charter became an interstate agreement and binding document for those who signed it. Established in the same 1945 Commission on Human Rights under the auspices of the United Nations, was to prepare a special Bill of Human Rights to focus on it as a universal norm, serving as an example for all peoples and nations. This Bill became part of the Charter of this new world organization.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights has not yet been created by this act. Moreover, many points that protected human rights were not included in the Bill, and many non-governmental organizations began to make proposals and additions. In particular, they demanded that every state that entered the UN promised to make sure that people living on the territory of these countries were provided with fundamental rights - for life, freedom of conscience, individual freedom , from slavery, violence and hunger, E. The UN Charter included a provision according to which human rights are the business of all countries. The preamble of this Charter says that the united nations are determined to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the value and dignity of human life, in the equality of women with men, and in small nations with greater ones. So the codification of human rights began.

During a special meeting of the governing body of the UN - the General Assembly - held in 1948 on the day of December 10, representatives of eight countries, including the Soviet Union, abstained during the voting. But the delegates of this Assembly still unanimously approved the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the general characteristic of which is the following. This document defined the list of the basic rights of every person in the world, regardless of language, gender, religion, color, political and other views, social and national origin, property or other status. It states that governments should protect not only their own citizens, but also citizens of other countries - national borders are not an obstacle to helping other people protect their rights.

So, the first part of the UN Bill of Human Rights was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 1948 became the starting point from which the international normative model of human rights, which is being verified on this document, begins to operate. In Vienna in 1993, participants in a human rights conference from 171 countries, representing 99 percent of the world's population, confirmed their governments' readiness to continue to follow this standard.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights underlies international law, but in and of itself it was not originally legally binding on documents. However, being a generalized list of agreed principles, it, of course, had a huge moral strength for the world community. In addition, States, using it and referring to it, both in legal and political context, have given the Declaration additional legitimacy at the international and national levels.

These principles acquired legal validity only in 1966. Then the Covenants on civil, political, cultural and socio-economic rights were approved. They represent the second and third parts of the United Nations Bill on Human Rights. Countries that have ratified these Covenants have pledged to change their legislation in such a way as to protect human rights. Subsequently, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Freedoms contained therein was enshrined in other treaties and Covenants. Therefore, at this time, its provisions are considered mandatory. Thus, it is not an ideal to be pursued, but a legal document, the principles of which all states must observe.