Eleanor Roosevelt holding a copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in French

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was created by the United Nations in 1948. The United Nations came into being in 1945, shortly after the end of World War II. Today there are 192 countries that are part of the United Nations.

Because the purpose of the United Nations is to bring peace to all nations of the world, a committee of persons headed by Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt (the wife of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the President of the United States from 1933-1945), and including Charles Habib Malik of Lebanon, wrote a special document which “declares” the rights that everyone in the entire world should have – the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Where do universal rights begin?

"In small places, close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerned citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world."

— Eleanor Roosevelt,
Widow of the former USA President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Chair of the United Nations Commission that wrote the Universal Declaration in 1948.