Athena
TR
Text / workBranchesDecember 10, 1948

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Eleanor RooseveltRené CassinCharles MalikP. C. Chang

This page delivers no verdict; it presents claims and evidence with their sources. No theory in science is absolute. Method

For everyone

On 10 December 1948 the UN General Assembly adopted the 30-article declaration proclaiming that all human beings are born free and equal in rights. Whether these rights are universal has been debated. In 1990 the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation adopted the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam, which defines rights within the framework of Islamic law.

For specialists

The declaration was adopted with 48 votes in favour, 8 abstentions and none against; it is not legally binding, the binding covenants (ICCPR, ICESCR) having been adopted in 1966. The American Anthropological Association warned in 1947 against declaring the values of one culture universal. The Cairo Declaration states that the rights are "subject to the Islamic Shariah".

Claims

Positions

American Anthropological Association (1947)
Standards and values are relative to the culture from which they derive; the values of one culture cannot be applied to all humanity.[2]
Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (Cairo Declaration, 1990)
All the rights and freedoms stipulated in the declaration are subject to the Islamic Shariah.[3]

Connections

Parent

Law and politics

Related

Social contract theoriesFiqh and uṣūl al-fiqh (Islamic law)

Show in tree →

Sources

  1. ReportUnited Nations General Assembly (1948). Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Resolution 217 A (III)un.orgarchive
  2. ArticleExecutive Board, American Anthropological Association (1947). Statement on human rights. American Anthropologist 49(4), 539–543DOI 10.1525/aa.1947.49.4.02a00020archive
  3. ReportOrganisation of the Islamic Conference (1990). Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (5 August 1990). UN Doc. A/CONF.157/PC/62/Add.18 (1993)

Search the literature

Look for scholarly work on this topic in other indexes:

Google Scholar ↗Semantic Scholar ↗BASE ↗CORE ↗JSTOR ↗DergiPark ↗

Cite this page

APA

Athena contributors. (2026). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Athena: The tree of human knowledge. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://latifkedi.github.io/athena/en/d/insan-haklari/

BibTeX
@misc{athena_insan_haklari,
  title        = {The Universal Declaration of Human Rights},
  author       = {{Athena contributors}},
  year         = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://latifkedi.github.io/athena/en/d/insan-haklari/}},
  note         = {Athena: The tree of human knowledge. Accessed: 2026-11-01}
}

Added: September 27, 2026 · Last changed: September 27, 2026 · Page history

✎ Suggest a correction