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Books > Law > Jurisprudence & general issues > Legal history
'There are few historical developments more significant than the
realisation that those in power should not be free to torture and
abuse those who are not.' - Amal Clooney On 10 December 1948, in
Paris, the United Nations General Assembly adopted an
extraordinarily ground-breaking and important proclamation: The
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This milestone document,
made up of thirty Articles, sets out, for the first time, the
fundamental human rights that must be protected by all nations. The
full text of the document is reproduced in this book following a
foreword by human rights lawyer Amal Clooney and a general
introduction which explores its origins in the 'Four Freedoms'
described by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the role his
wife Eleanor Roosevelt took on as chair of the Human Rights
Commission and of the drafting committee, and the parts played by
other key international members of the Commission. It was a
pioneering achievement in the wake of the Second World War and
continues to provide a basis for international human rights law,
making this document's aims 'as relevant today as when they were
first adopted a lifetime ago.'
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