Sociology Essay: Universal Declaration of Human Rights Analysis

This sociology essay provides an in-depth analysis of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). It begins with an introduction to the UDHR as a milestone document, drafted by representatives from diverse backgrounds and proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948. The essay explores the historical and philosophical emergence of the UDHR, tracing its roots to the aftermath of World War II and the subsequent establishment of the UN. It highlights the importance of the UDHR in setting global standards for human rights and inspiring people to claim their rights. The essay further examines the protection and abuse of human rights, providing examples of both, including the role of government AI and the Rohingya crisis. It references key sources to support its arguments.

Running Head: SOCIOLOGY ESSAY
Sociology Essay
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

2SOCIOLOGY ESSAY
Introduction
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is considered as the milestone
document in the entire history of the human Rights. The representatives having different legal
and cultural backgrounds from the whole world drafted it. The United Nations General Assembly
in the year 1948, had proclaimed this declaration in the form of a common standard of
achievements from the people of all the nations. It further sets out that the fundamental right of
man that are protected universally and it also has been translated in almost 500 languages. This
declaration consists of almost 30 articles that affirm the rights of an individual that are not
binding in themselves legally. It has been elaborated especially in the economic transfers, the
international treaties, the national constitutes, the regional human rights instruments and some
other laws (Burke 2015). There are some of the legal scholars who have further argued that
counties have consistently invoked this particular declaration from a long-time. In the United
States, the supreme-court has concluded that this declaration does not impose the obligations in
the form of international law. The other courts of different countries have further concluded that
this declaration is not a part of the domestic law.
The importance and the philosophical/historical emergence of UDHR
The second world war, had touched every country of the world either directly or
indirectly. It is found that almost seventy million people of the world were perished. In the year
1945, hundreds of the non-governmental organizations and 50 governments met together in San
Francisco. These states hammered out properly the ‘constitution’ of the new United Nation. The
preamble of the U.N Charter consists of the statement “ to reaffirm faith in fundamental human
rights in the worth and dignity of the human person”. The United Charter the called for the
human rights commission that was chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt. The Scientific and the Cultural

3SOCIOLOGY ESSAY
Organization helped the new commission on the human rights that were scrutinized the way
various cultures, the philosophers and nations perceived the human rights. Finally, in the year
1948, the draft was sent to the U.N General Assembly by the commission (Donnelly and Whelan
2018). There were some of the extremely lengthy debates that well clarified the draft language
along with the developed the enhancing consensus. This approval and the discussion took two of
the full years consisting of81 meetings, 1400 votes and 168 amendments.
There are many historical and the philosophical value of the different aspects of
Universal declaration of the human rights. It provides the base for a particular series of different
global agreements being both regional and global. The UDHR further motivated people of the
world in claiming their rights and the goal was always to secure the effective and universal
observation and recognition. Most importantly, the directness and clarity of language inspired
millions of people. There were an enhanced number of the conscious efforts and translations
which spread to the UDHR’ message that popularized all the principles (Özler 2018). The men
and the women have identified that they enjoyed all of the rights which none of the governments
must take away.
It can be said that the human rights are both protected and abused. These are the basic
rights and also the freedom which belong to each person in the whole world beginning from the
birth until the death. The fundamental rights are founded on the shared values such as fairness,
dignity, respect, equality and the independence. In the context of Britain, the Human Rights Act
of 1998 protects the human rights. The human rights protect the day-to-day life of common
people. It protects the right to have and express own opinions. It also protects the right to an
education, the right to a private family life and the right to be not mistreated by the state in the
wrong manner (Danieli, Stamatopoulou and Dias 2018). On the other hand, there are plenty of

4SOCIOLOGY ESSAY
examples to show that the people of the society also abused the human rights badly. The human
rights have been abused through the violation of the social, the cultural and the economic rights
when a specific state fails in the obligations in order to ensure that they are enjoyed without
obligations to respect and without the discrimination. There are instances of the human rights
being-protected in the form of government AI and the data science used in the decision-making.
The governments of different countries are making use of the AI in order to ensure that the basic
rights of people are protected (Taylor 2019). There are many instances of the human right abuse
in the form of ‘Rohingya Crisis’. In August 2018, the UN fact finding mission on the Myanmar
consisted of the Australian human rights experts delivering a scathing report which detailed the
crimes against war crimes, humanity, genocide and sexual violence by the security forces of
Myanmar against the Rohingya (Hrw.Org 2019). There examples of the violation can be the
forcible eviction of people from their homes that is protected by the right to adequate housing.
The abuse is in the denial of accessing the information and services connected with the sexual
and the reproductive health which is protected by the right to health.

5SOCIOLOGY ESSAY
Reference
Burke, R., 2015. Human Rights Day after the ‘breakthrough’: celebrating the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights at the United Nations in 1978 and 1988. Journal of Global
History, 10(1), pp.147-170.
Danieli, Y., Stamatopoulou, E. and Dias, C., 2018. The universal declaration of human rights:
Fifty years and beyond. Routledge.
Donnelly, J. and Whelan, D., 2018. International human rights. Routledge.
Hrw.Org (2019). Human Rights in 2018: Ten Issues That Made Headlines. [online] Human
Rights Watch. Available at: https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/12/09/human-rights-2018-ten-
issues-made-headlines [Accessed 19 Dec. 2019].
Özler, Ş.İ., 2018. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights at Seventy: Progress and
Challenges. Ethics & International Affairs, 32(4), pp.395-406.
Taylor, J. (2019). People should be held accountable for AI and algorithm errors, rights
commissioner says. [online] the Guardian. Available at:
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2019/dec/17/people-should-be-held-accountable-for-ai-and-
algorithm-errors-rights-commissioner-says [Accessed 19 Dec. 2019].