75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Seventy-five years ago, global humanity was reeling from the unconscionable violence of the Second World War. In the shadows of this violence the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was born as an attempt to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights and the dignity and worth of a human person. 

On the 10th of December 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (the Declaration) was adopted at the United Nations at the General Assembly meeting in Paris.

The passage of the Declaration represents the first time in history where an organised community of nations made a commitment to naming and upholding fundamental human rights and freedoms. Since its inception the Declaration has served as a steering document for communities globally towards the protection of these rights, peace and safety.

At Refugee Advice & Casework Service (RACS), the Declaration acts as an important reference in our work as we seek to protect the rights of people who are at real risk of persecution on the basis of their religion, political opinion, ethnicity, nationality, or membership of a particular social group in their country of origin.

RACS continues to advocate for a more just society where the inalienable rights of all people - including refugees and people seeking asylum - can be respected. In doing so, we must also be cognisant of the gaps in the design and implementation of the Declaration.

The first article of the Declaration proclaims that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. Yet in 1948 when this seminal document was established First Nations people did not have the right to vote, the policy of assimilation was actively pursued by the Australian Government and the Immigration Restriction Act 1901 (Cth) (dubbed the White Australia policy) was still in effect.

Globally, a system of apartheid was well and alive in South Africa, as were Jim Crow laws in the United States of America and a number of countries across the Global South were still under violent colonial rule and occupation.

Now more than ever we are obliged to recognise that the proclamations of the Declaration must truly apply to all people, and not only to the suffering of some groups only. In Australia, we must uphold the human rights not only of citizens, but also of non-citizens such as refugees, people seeking asylum and stateless people.

Australia once played a critical role in the development and adoption of the Declaration. Australian lawyer, judge and politician H.V. “Doc” Evatt served as President of the United Nations General Assembly and persuaded the government at the time to accept the Declaration.

Seventy-five years later, it has been reported that there are currently 110 million people who have been forcibly displaced. The world is reckoning not only with one refugee crisis after another, but with the potential of polycrisis.

It is again time for the Australian government and people to be bold and hold true to the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights such that the atrocities that prompted its creation will never be repeated.

Never again must mean never again, for anyone.