What Have Been the Main Achievements of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to What Extent Is the Document Still Relevant, and to What Extent Does It Need Changed and Updated to Reflect Contemporary

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The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was the first ever comprehensive human rights declaration by an international body. It is composed of 30 articles detailing basic principles of the inherent human rights and freedoms which are attributed to all men and women everywhere in the world, without discrimination of any kind. Drafted by a committee consisting of members of the Commission on Human Rights and adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 December 1948, this Declaration has served as the foundation stone for modern international human rights laws and values. Whilst the UDHR was never intended to have binding legal effect, it has had and continues to have a huge influence, both morally and legally, across the globe with all 192 UN member states now having signed up to it as a condition of UN membership. However, despite its universal applicability and impact, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is by no means a perfect document. As today’s society advances and changes - politically, economically, socially and culturally - new gaps and flaws appear in the Declaration and the need for it to be updated to reflect such contemporary developments and realities becomes more apparent. On the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Ronald Reagan once said that “For people of good will around the world, that document is more than just words: it’s a global testament of humanity, a standard by which any humble person on Earth can stand in judgement of any government on Earth” . This highlights one of the Declaration’s greatest achievements: the creation of a universal standard for basic human rights applicable to every human being everywhere in the world. The state of the world following the Second World War and its apparently total disregard for any form of human rights demonstrated the need for a document that would embody a common standard of achievement

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