Section 2: History of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights

This section describes the history of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the document that What are Human Rights? is based on. The purpose is to give you an understanding of why the Declaration was written.

1. United means: joined together in one; combined. Also joined together for a common purpose, or by common feelings.

2. Nation means: a group of people living together in a certain area under the same government; state; country. Make a list of five different nations.

3. Putting these two words together, make a definition for united nations.

4. Briefly study World War II to get an overall idea of what happened, if you do not already know. This can be done through a history book, an encyclopedia, the Internet or other educational sources. Write a paragraph or more on what violations of human rights occurred.

5. Read the short paragraph in What are Human Rights? about the United Nations: “The United Nations came into being on October 24, 1945, shortly after the end of World War II. It was started by the five major powers that won the war: China, England, France, the Soviet Union and the United States. They got together with forty-seven other nations and created an organization to save future generations from the threat and destruction of war. Over the years more countries decided they wanted to unite with these nations and today 191 nations are part of the United Nations.”

6. Universal means: of, for, or by all people; concerning everyone.

7. Declaration means: a public statement; announcement.

8. Go over the following paragraph from the booklet:

“Because the purpose of the United Nations is to bring peace in all nations of the world, a committee of persons headed by Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt wrote a special document which ‘declares’ the rights that everyone in the entire universe should have. This document is called the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”

Note: Eleanor Roosevelt was the wife of U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt. She was in charge of the group that made the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

9. Pretend that you are the United Nations, and create your own human rights document. Add whatever human rights should be a part of such a document.

10. Send the following in to tracie@scientology.net or using regular mail as covered here: