Bills of Rights

Report Outline
Human Rights and the Preservation of Peace
Evolution of Bills of Rights
Enforcement of Guarantees of Rights

Human Rights and the Preservation of Peace

Early proclamation by the United Nations of an international bill of rights, as part of the charter of a world organization, has been strongly urged by influential groups in both Great Britain and the United States. In support of this plan, it is asserted that a specific declaration of the rights of man throughout the world would clarify Allied peace aims, would provide needed assurance that the principles of the Atlantic Charter will be observed in postwar settlements, and would safeguard democratic institutions under the inevitable expansion of international controls after the war.

Germany and Japan deny the basic human rights of freedom of speech, press, and assembly; they assert the unlimited power of the state over the lives and property of their peoples. It is argued that firm establishment of civil liberties, under international control, would block the rise of new dictatorships in these and other countries after the war and would greatly lessen the danger of another world conflict.

Rights of Man in United Nations Declarations

An international bill of rights would give concrete expression to United Nations principles which so far have been set out only in general terms. The Atlantic Charter expressed the “hope” that the peace after World War II will assure that “all the men in all the lands may live out their lives in freedom from fear and want.” In subscribing to the Charter, the United Nations went further and declared complete victory of the Allies essential “to defend life, liberty, independence and religious freedom, and to preserve human rights and justice in their own lands as well as in other lands.” The Four Freedoms added freedom of worship and freedom of speech to the “freedom from fear and want” of the Atlantic Charter.