Human beings are born equal in dignity and rights. These are moral claims which are inalienable and inherent in all individuals by virtue of their humanity alone, irrespective of any difference or any other consideration. These claims are articulated and formulated and what is today known as Human Rights.


Durga Das Basu defines that human rights are those minimal rights which every individual must have against the State or other public authority by virtue of his being a member of human family irrespective any consideration.


The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, defines Human Rights as rights derived from the inherent dignity of the human being.


It was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948, in the aftermath of World War II, as a response to the atrocities committed during the war.


Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that, “all human beings are born equal in dignity and rights.”


The UDHR contains a Preamble and 30 Articles covering civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights, all of which are considered universal, indivisible, and interdependent.


The 30 articles under UDHR are as follows: -


1. Article 1 - 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.


2. Article 2 - Freedom from Discrimination. Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms in the Declaration without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, or other status.


3. Article 3 - Right to Life, Liberty, and Security of person.


4. Article 4 - Freedom from Slavery. No one shall be held in slavery or servitude.


5. Article 5 - Freedom from Torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.


6. Article 6 - Right to Recognition as a Person before the Law everywhere.


7. Article 7 - Equality before the Law and entitlement to equal protection of the law.


8. Article 8 - Right to an Effective Remedy by competent national tribunals for acts violating fundamental rights.


9. Article 9 - Freedom from Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile.


10. Article 10 - Right to a Fair Public Hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal if charged with a penal offence or in determination of rights and obligations.


11. Article 11 - Right to be Presumed Innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial with necessary guarantees for defence.


12. Article 12 - Freedom from Interference with privacy, family, home, or correspondence, and attacks upon honour or reputation.


13. Article 13 - Right to Freedom of Movement and residence within the borders of each state, and the right to leave any country and return to one's own country.


14. Article 14 - Right to Seek and to Enjoy Asylum from persecution in other countries.


15. Article 15 - Right to a Nationality and the right not to be arbitrarily deprived of nationality or denied the right to change it.


16. Article 16 - Right to Marriage and Family. Men and women have the right to marry and found a family, with full and free consent, and the family is entitled to protection.


17. Article 17 - Right to Own Property and not to be arbitrarily deprived of it.


18. Article 18 - Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion (including the freedom to change one's religion or belief).


19. Article 19 - Freedom of Opinion and Expression (including the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas).


20. Article 20 - Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.


21. Article 21 - Right to Participate in Government directly or through freely chosen representatives, based on periodic and genuine elections by universal and equal suffrage.


22. Article 22 - Right to Social Security and the realization of economic, social, and cultural rights indispensable for dignity and free development.


23. Article 23 - Right to Work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work, to equal pay for equal work, and the right to form and join trade unions.


24. Article 24 - Right to Rest and Leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.


25. Article 25 - Right to an Adequate Standard of Living (including food, clothing, housing, medical care, and social services) and security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood.


26. Article 26 - Right to Education (free at least in the elementary stages, compulsory elementary education, equal access to higher education based on merit), directed to the full development of the human personality.


27. Article 27 - Right to Participate in Cultural Life, to enjoy the arts, and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits. Right to protection of moral and material interests resulting from authorship.


28. Article 28 - Right to a Social and International Order in which the rights and freedoms in the Declaration can be fully realized.


29. Article 29 - Duties and Limitations. Everyone has duties to the community. Rights are subject to limitations determined by law solely for securing due recognition and respect for the rights of others and meeting the just requirements of morality, public order, and general welfare.


30. Article 30 - Freedom from State or Personal Interference in Rights. Nothing in the Declaration may be interpreted as implying any right for any State, group, or person to engage in any activity aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.