In 1946, in response to the horrors of WWII, the United Nations was formed. In 1948, the UN proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a shining moment in our world’s history.

With permission of the UN’s Secretariat Publications Board, I reprinted this document in its entirety in To Find The Way Of Love. During the writing of my book, as I reread the Declaration, I was impressed with the authors’ knowledge and understanding of the problems and oppressions faced by ordinary people all over the globe. They produced a document of hope that in our world, there could be freedom and equality, and that we could find the way of love and realize the purpose of our existence.

I recommend reading the Declaration in its entirety (page 155 in To Find The Way Of Love), but for this blog, we have grouped together several categories of rights, below.

Privacy, Arrest, Detention
Personal freedom—no slavery, forced servitude, or torture—freedom of movement, and marriage by mutual consent.

Equality
Equality before the law and equal protection of person and property.

Freedom
Freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, and of peaceful assembly.

Participation
Participation in government through genuine elections by secret vote, and through universal equal suffrage.

Work
To work, join unions, and receive pay adequate for necessities of health and well-being of self and family, plus protection against lack of livelihood due to events beyond one’s control.

Education
Access to free education.

Intellectual property
Protection of one’s intellectual property.

Community
Participation for all in the cultural life of the community.

The UN’s Declaration was a roadmap for the way of love—filled with much promise, high hopes, and the fulfillment of the best within us. Sadly, it was to be an unkept promise. Many of the UN’s member-states have subsequently either failed to fulfill even one of the 30 articles, or have engaged in egregious violations of many of them.

Indeed, if the Declaration is applied to member-states as a measure of performance, with 70% (full observance of 21 of the 30 articles) being a passing grade, all member-states would probably fail. This is more than a sad commentary on the state of governments. It is an example of how easily high expectations and hopes for a better world can lead to unkept promises.

Oliver & Barbara