Human Rights Day

In 1966, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UN Covenant I) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (UN Covenant II) entered into force. The UDHR, the UN Covenant I and the UN Covenant II form the International Bill of Human Rights.

Now below are the articles as a reminder:

Article 1

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should meet one another in the spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2

Everyone is entitled to the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, legal, or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether that country or territory is independent, under trusteeship, lacks self-government, or is otherwise limited in its sovereignty.

Article 3

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Article 4

No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Article 5

No one shall be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Article 6

Everyone has the right to be recognized as having legal capacity everywhere.

Article 7

All persons are equal before the law and are entitled without distinction to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Article 8

Everyone shall have the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights to which he is entitled by the Constitution or by law.

Article 9

No one may be arbitrarily arrested, detained or expelled from the country.

Article 10

Everyone shall be entitled, in full equality, to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

Article 11

1. Everyone accused of a criminal offense shall have the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty in a public trial in which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defense, in accordance with the law.
2. No one may be convicted of an act or omission that was not punishable under national or international law at the time it was committed. Likewise, no heavier penalty may be imposed than the penalty threatened at the time the punishable act was committed.

Article 12

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his or her private life, family, home and correspondence, or to impairment of his or her honor and reputation. Everyone is entitled to legal protection against such interference or impairment.

Article 13

1. Everyone has the right to move freely within a state and to choose his place of residence.
2. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and return to his country.

Article 14

1. Everyone has the right to seek and enjoy asylum from persecution in other countries.
2. This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions actually brought for crimes of a non-political nature or for acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 15

1. Everyone has the right to a nationality.
2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

Article 16

1. Women and men who are capable of marriage have the right to marry and to found a family without any restriction based on race, nationality or religion. They have equal rights at the time of marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
2. A marriage may be contracted only upon free and unrestricted agreement of the will of the future spouses.
3. The family is the basic natural unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the state.

Article 17

1. Everyone has the right to hold property both alone and in community with others.
2. No one may be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

Article 18

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers.

Article 20

1. All people have the right to assemble peacefully and to form associations.
2. No one may be forced to belong to an association.

Article 21

1. Everyone has the right to participate in shaping the public affairs of his country, either directly or through freely elected representatives.
2. Everyone has the right to equal access to public office in their country.
3. The will of the people shall be the basis for the authority of public power; this will must be expressed through regular, undistorted, universal and equal elections by secret ballot or by an equivalent free electoral procedure.

Article 22

Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and the right to enjoy, through national measures and international cooperation and taking into account the organization and resources of each State, the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

Article 23

1. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of occupation, to fair and satisfactory working conditions, and to protection against unemployment.
2. Everyone, without distinction, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
3. Everyone who works has the right to fair and satisfactory remuneration that provides him and his family with a livelihood commensurate with human dignity, supplemented, where appropriate, by other social protection measures.
4. Everyone has the right to form and join trade unions to protect their interests.

Article 24

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure and, in particular, to a reasonable limit on working hours and regular paid leave.

Article 25

1. Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing, medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability or widowhood, old age and other loss of livelihood due to circumstances beyond his control.
2. Mothers and children are entitled to special care and support. All children, both legitimate and illegitimate, enjoy the same social protection.

Article 26

1. Everyone has the right to education. Education is free, at least primary and basic education. Elementary education is compulsory. Technical and vocational education must be made universally available, and higher education must be open to all equally according to their abilities.
2. Education must be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It must contribute to understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations and all racial or religious groups and be conducive to the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
3. Parents have a primary right to choose the type of education their children receive.

Article 27

1. Everyone has the right to participate freely in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts, and to share in scientific progress and its achievements.
2. Everyone has the right to protection of the intellectual and material interests accruing to him as an author of works of science, literature or art.

Article 28

Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms proclaimed in this Declaration can be fully realized.

Article 29

1. Everyone has duties to the community, in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.
2. Everyone, in the exercise of his rights and freedoms, shall be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law solely for the purpose of securing recognition of and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
3. These rights and freedoms shall in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 30

Nothing in this Declaration shall be construed as conferring on any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to do any act aimed at the elimination of the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration.

Source of German translation: www.humanrights.ch

Information from the federal government

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Statement on the 70th birthday of human rights and Video message

Swiss Institute for Peace and Energy Research (SIPER)

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