The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

10 December 1948, New York, USA

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was created by the United Nations Human Rights Commission, chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt. Despite being adopted by the UN on 10 December 1948, initially there was only a moral but no legal duty to follow its code. This would not be changed until 1976 when the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights came into being. Despite the UDHR itself remaining non-legally binding, its influence can’t be understated and it inspired Britain’s own 1998 Human Rights Act. The document is also key to the framework of the UN and underlines many of its decisions.