In its mandate, the League of Nations, the first intergovernmental organisation created after the First World War (in 1919), did not mention human rights. But the League attempted to undertake the protection of human rights through international means (e.g. the rights of national minorities and a few social protection rules). The International Labour Organisation (ILO), based in Geneva, was created the same year and established standards determining the conditions of industrial workers.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) is one of the first major achievements of the United Nations Organisation (UNO). It is linked with at least seven founding texts:

The Roosevelt Declaration, also known as the "declaration of four freedoms", declares that "freedom is the existence of human rights everywhere".
The Atlantic Charter (signed in August 1941 by the United States and Great Britain) explained the objectives of the war and reaffirmed the four freedoms: the "freedom of opinion, of expression, of religion and the right to basic needs".
The Declaration of the United Nations (December 1 1942), signed by the allies, affirmed their belief that "a complete victory" against their foes was essential in order to "preserve human rights and justice in their own countries and for all nations".
The Declaration of Philadelphia (the International Labour Organisation Constitution of May 1944) set forth the concerns of Member States and their citizens regarding human rights.
The draft agreement of the Dumbarton Oaks Conference (7th October 1944), which became the Charter of the United Nations, states that "the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms" depends on the return of peace.
The Act of the Chapultepec Conference (February 21– March 8 1945), where 21 States of the American Continent met, affirmed the equality of all rights for all men "whatever their race or their religion".
The San Francisco Conference adopted the Charter of the United Nations (June 26 1945), which refers seven times to human rights. The Charter proclaims the faith of the United Nations in the dignity and value of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small and establishes conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.

 THE RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS

According to article 68 of the Charter, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) establishes the Commission on Human Rights. At its first session, the General Assembly gave mandate to the Commission to draft a declaration on human rights and fundamental freedoms examined during the preparation of an international bill of human rights. An eight-member drafting committee, chaired by Mrs. Roosevelt (with Mr. René Cassin representing France, Mr. Peng-chun Chuang representing China, and Mr. Charles Malik representing Lebanon) began work on it.

The drawing up of an International Bill of Human Rights was charged to the Commission, which met in 1947 at Lake Success, New York, and in 1948 in Geneva. The Bill was to include a Universal Declaration of Human Rights (general principles) and a Covenant (specific rights and their limitations) called Covenant on Human Rights.

The authors of the Declaration, who were from different regions of the world, sought to ensure that the text would reflect different cultural traditions and incorporate common values. More importantly, the Declaration was to be a common statement of mutual aspirations, a shared vision of a more equitable and just world. The Committee agreed on the central importance of affirming universal respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the principles of non-discrimination and civil and political rights, as well as social, cultural and economic rights.

 ADOPTION OF THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION, 1948 PARIS

Mr. René Cassin was one of the principal architects of the declaration. His project drew on the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789, and on a complement to it written in 1936 by the International Federation of Human Rights League. The two latter texts provided the principles of civil and political rights, to which Cassin added five articles on economic, social and cultural rights. The text, comprising a total of 30 articles, was the basis of the Declaration to be adopted the following year.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was presented to the United Nations General Assembly at the Palais de Chaillot in Paris, and was adopted on the 10th of December 1948 by 48 Member States (Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Burma, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Iceland, India, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Liberia, Luxembourg, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Siam, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uruguay, Venezuela). Eight Member States abstained (Byelorussia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, South Africa, The USSR and Yugoslavia) and two were absent during the vote. [When the Declaration was adopted, there were only fifty-eight Member States of the United Nations.]

On the same day, the General Assembly asked the Commission on Human Rights to translate the principles given in the Universal Declaration into international treaties that would protect specific rights. In 1966, eighteen years after its adoption, the Declaration was completed by two Covenants codifying the two sets of rights and one protocol guarantying their application. When these texts entered into force in 1976, thirty years had gone by since the adoption of the Universal Declaration! The International Bill of Human Rights includes the two International Covenants of 1976, the Universal Declaration and the Optional Protocols.

On the 9th of December 1948, the day before the vote for the Universal Declaration, the General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (which entered into force on the 12th January 1951). The Nations committed themselves to the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide committed in wartime or in peacetime.

A common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations

For the first time in history, the international community embraced a document considered to have universal value. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is not legally binding. It is a resolution adopted by the General Assembly. Over the years, its main principles have acquired the status of standards that should be respected by all States. The continuing impact of the Declaration, however, has moved it in the direction of universal acceptance, and it has become a common reference in the human rights field for all nations. The Universal Declaration, together with the UN Charter, served both as an inspiration and a means of achieving self-determination for millions of people under colonial rule, and many governments incorporated the provisions of the Declaration in their constitutions, making it legally binding.

The Declaration and the two Covenants have inspired more than 60 international human rights instruments, which together constitute a comprehensive system of legally binding treaties for the promotion and protection of human rights. There is, for example, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (signed in 1965 and entered into force in 1969) which was a groundbreaking treaty defining and condemning racial discrimination. This convention also makes the dissemination of ideas based on racial superiority or inspiring racial hatred punishable by law. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (signed in 1979, entered into force in 1981) specifies measures for the advancement and empowerment of women in private and public life, particularly in the areas of education, employment, health, marriage and the family. And the Convention on the Rights of the Child (signed in 1989, entered into force in 1990) is the most widely ratified human rights Convention. Only two Member States, the United States of America and Somalia, are not yet parties to it. It protects children among other things from economic and sexual exploitation. It also states that children have the rights to be protected in case of armed conflict.