The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was proclaimed on 10 December 1948 by the General Assembly of the United Nations. The declaration sets out a comprehensive common standard for the rights that every person should enjoy, regardless of sex, religion, nationality or other status.
The declaration was made in the form of a General Assembly resolution and is thus not legally binding or enforceable, but some of its provisions are considered to be part of customary international law. The declaration reinforces the underlying principles of human rights and has since its proclamation influenced the writing of constitutions of most democracies.
Conversations
Looking back at our 2021 event series: Human rights are a concrete utopia worth defending, but what does this entail during times of profound, global transition? Can we use today’s unprecedented, multiple crises as an opportunity? And what alliances and strategies do we need to effectively include decolonial, feminist and environmental perspectives?
Trade unionists
ECCHR filed a criminal complaint against Nestlé and some of its top managers in 2012. The complaint accuses the managers of being in breach of their obligations by failing to prevent crimes of Colombian paramilitary groups and failing to adequately protect trade unionists from these crimes.
Torture
Between 2004 and 2007, three complaints were filed in Germany and in France against members of the US Government, including former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and members of the military forces in connection with war crimes, torture and other criminal acts in the military prisons of Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib.
