*

It started when a committee, chaired by Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, widow of the former United States President, agreed on the central importance of affirming universal respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the principles of non-discrimination and civil and political rights, as well as social, cultural and economic rights.

* The United Nations General Assembly adopted the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a bulwark against oppression and discrimination. In the wake of a devastating world war, which had witnessed some of the most barbarous crimes in human history, the Universal Declaration marked the first time that the rights and freedoms of individuals were set forth in such detail. It also represented the first international recognition that human rights and fundamental freedoms are applicable to every person, everywhere.

* On 10 December 1948, the United Nations

General Assembly unanimously adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with 8 abstentions. * Since then, 10 December is celebrated every year worldwide as Human Rights Day. The adoption of the Declaration was immediately hailed as a triumph, uniting very diverse and even conflicting political regimes, religious systems and cultural traditions

*A document considered to

have universal value -- "a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations"

*
* United Nations Human Rights Council * The Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental
body within the United Nations system responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe and for addressing situations of human rights violations and make recommendations on them. It has the ability to discuss all thematic human rights issues and situations that require its attention throughout the year. It meets at the UN Office at Geneva.
The Council is made up of 47 United Nations Member States which are elected by the UN General Assembly. The Human Rights Council replaced the former United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

* Amnesty International * Amnesty International is a worldwide movement of

people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights to be respected and protected for everyone. * The Integrated Strategic Plan (ISP) outlines Amnesty Internationals human rights, organizational and financial strategies within a six-year period. Operational Plans (OP) are derived from the goals and objectives of the ISP. They are set by the movement to guide their work through each two year planning period. * The National Strategic Plan (NSP) serves as the framework of action of all local AI formations known as Sections or structures towards the achievement of the ISP.

* Amnesty International Philippines National

Strategic Plan 2010 - 2016 Map

*All human beings are born free and

equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

* Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms

set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-selfgoverning or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

*Everyone has the right to

life, liberty and security of person.

*No one shall be held in

slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

*No one shall be subjected to

torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

*Everyone has the right to

recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

*All are equal before the law and are

entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

*Everyone has the right to an

effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

*No one shall be

subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

*Everyone is entitled in full

equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

* (1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the

right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.

* (2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence

on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

*No one shall be subjected to

arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

*(1) Everyone has the right to

freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.

*(2) Everyone has the right to

leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

*(1) Everyone has the right to seek

and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.

*(2) This right may not be invoked in

the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

*(1) Everyone has the right to a

nationality.

*(2) No one shall be arbitrarily

deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

* (1) Men and women of full age, without any

limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. and full consent of the intending spouses.

* (2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free * (3) The family is the natural and fundamental group
unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

*(1) Everyone has the right to

own property alone as well as in association with others. deprived of his property.

*(2) No one shall be arbitrarily

*Everyone has the right to freedom of

thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

*Everyone has the right to freedom of

opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

*(1) Everyone has the right to

freedom of peaceful assembly and association. belong to an association

*(2) No one may be compelled to

* (1) Everyone has the right to take part in the

government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives. * (2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country. * (3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

* Everyone, as a member of society, has the right

to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international cooperation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

* (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of

employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. * (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. * (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection. * (4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

*Everyone has the right to

rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

* (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living

adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. * (2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

* (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be

free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. * (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace. * (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

* (1) Everyone has the right freely to participate

in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits. the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

* (2) Everyone has the right to the protection of

*Everyone is entitled to a social

and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

* (1) Everyone has duties to the community in which

alone the free and full development of his personality is possible. * (2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society. * (3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

*Nothing in this Declaration may be

interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.