This section contains the original Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) document, as well as a plainer and simpler version.  It also contains a history of how the UDHR came to be written and the central role Eleanor Roosevelt played at the United Nations in the formulation of this important world-reaching document.

 As First Lady and acting as “eyes and ears” to President Franklin Roosevelt (1933-45), Eleanor Roosevelt won international respect and admiration; however, it was her work on the Human Rights Commission in the United Nations from 1946 to 1948 and the writing and passage of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) which she considered her “greatest legacy.”

 Believing in the inherent dignity of each individual regardless of race, color, or creed and the equal and unalienable rights of all members of the human family and that the achievement of human rights is the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world, Eleanor Roosevelt sought to produce a “living declaration” of the rights of mankind.

 Her work on the Human Rights Commission in the United Nations was nothing less than remarkable as she managed to coalesce diverse members from countries with varied political, racial, and religious cultures and backgrounds into a united purpose---to write a document which would proclaim the fact that men were born free and equal in dignity and rights and that they should act toward one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

 A driving force, a gentle taskmaster at meetings, and an astute negotiator, Eleanor Roosevelt was at once optimistic, energetic, compassionate and tolerant with sustained patience and good humor.  She blended these qualities to make even the most difficult, suspicious, and uncooperative member see “her point of view” and managed members to work together toward a common purpose to “get the job done.”  At meetings, she often maintained a sense of balance, sometimes amiably “put members “in their place,” and effectively guided them to achieve what she started out to do—to formulate a document, a modern Magna Charta,” which would proclaim the inalienable rights of men and women everywhere. Clearly, she and the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations produced a document with universal principles that has endured since the time of its publication in 1948 to the present and will continue to be used as a “common standard of achievement” for all people and all nations for years to come.