On December 10, 1948 the General
Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights the full text of which appears in the
following pages. Following this historic act the Assembly called upon all
Member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and "to cause it
to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools
and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the
political status of countries or territories."
PREAMBLE
Whereas recognition of the inherent
dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the
human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
Whereas disregard and contempt for human
rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience
of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy
freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been
proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,
Whereas it is essential, if man is not
to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against
tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule
of law,
Whereas it is essential to promote the
development of friendly relations between nations,
Whereas the peoples of the United
Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human
rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal
rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and
better standards of life in larger freedom,
Whereas Member States have pledged
themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the
promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and
fundamental freedoms,
Whereas a common understanding of these
rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization
of this pledge,
Now, Therefore THE GENERAL
ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the
end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this
Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to
promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures,
national and international, to secure their universal and effective
recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States
themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.
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.
Article 2.
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-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Article 3.
Everyone has the right to life, liberty
and security of person.
Article 4.
No one shall be held in slavery or
servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their
forms.
Article 5.
No one shall be subjected to torture or
to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 6.
Everyone has the right to recognition
everywhere as a person before the law.
Article 7.
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.
Article 8.
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.
Article 9.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary
arrest, detention or exile.
Article 10.
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.
Article 11.
(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.
Article 12.
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.
Article 13.
(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.
Article 14.
(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.
Article 15.
(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.
Article 16.
(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.
(2) Marriage shall be entered into only
with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
(3) The family is the natural and
fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society
and the State.
Article 17.
(1) Everyone has the right to own
property alone as well as in association with others.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived
of his property.
Article 18.
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.
Article 19.
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.
Article 20.
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of
peaceful assembly and association.
(2) No one may be compelled to belong to
an association.
Article 21.
(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.
Article 22.
Everyone, as a member of society, has
the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through
national effort and international co-operation 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.
Article 23.
(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.
Article 24.
Everyone has the right to rest and
leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic
holidays with pay.
Article 25.
(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.
Article 26.
(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.
Article 27.
(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.
(2) Everyone has the right to the
protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any
scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.
Article 28.
Everyone is entitled to a social and
international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this
Declaration can be fully realized.
Article 29.
(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.
Article 30.
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.
THE KUALA
LUMPUR INITIATIVE TO CRIMINALISE WAR 17th December 2005
THE Kuala
Lumpur Global Peace Forum of concerned peoples from all five continents
UNITED
in the belief that peace is the essential condition for the survival and
well-being of the human race,
DETERMINED
to promote peace and save succeeding generations from the scourge of
war,
OUTRAGED
over the frequent resort to war in the settlement of disputes between
nations,
DISTURBED
that militarists are preparing for more wars,
TROUBLED
that use of armed force increases insecurity for all,
TERRIFIED
that the possession of nuclear weapons and the imminent risk of nuclear
war will lead to the annihilation of life on earth.
To
achieve peace we now declare that:
Wars increasingly involve the killing of innocent people and
are, therefore, abhorrent and criminal.
Killings
in war are as criminal as the killings within societies in times
of peace.
Since killings in peace time are subject to the domestic law of
crime, killings in war must likewise be subject to the
international law of crimes. This should be so irrespective of
whether these killings in war are authorized or permitted by
domestic law.
All commercial, financial, industrial and scientific activities
that aid and abet war should be criminalised.
All national leaders who initiate aggression must be subjected
to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.
All nations must strengthen the resolve to accept the purposes
and principles of the United Nations Charter and institute
methods to settle international disputes by peaceful means and
to renounce war.
Armed force shall not be used except when authorised by a
Resolution passed by two-thirds majority of the total membership
of the General Assembly of the United Nations.
All legislators and all members of Government must affirm their
belief in peace and pledge to strive for peace.
Political parties all over the world must include peace as one
of their principal objectives.
Non-Governmental Organisations committed to the promotion of
peace should be set up in all nations.
Public servants and professionals, in particular in the medical,
legal, educational and scientific fields, must promote peace and
campaign actively against war.
The media must actively oppose war and the incitement to war and
consciously promote the peaceful settlement of international
disputes.
Entertainment media must cease to glorify war and violence and
should instead cultivate the ethos of peace
All religious leaders must condemn war and promote peace.
To these ends the Forum resolves to
establish a permanent Secretariat in Kuala Lumpur to:
IMPLEMENT this Initiative.
OPPOSE policies and programmes that incite war.
SEEK the cooperation of NGOs worldwide to
achieve the goals of this Initiative.
Signed by:
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf Prof Francis A. Boyle Dr. Helen Caldicott Mr Matthias Chang Prof Michel Chossudovsky Prof Shad Saleem Faruqi Mr Denis J. Halliday Dato’ Mukhriz Mahathir Dr Chandra Muzaffar Dato’ Michael O.K. Yeoh Mr Hans-Christof Von Sponeck
71:2.4There are ten steps, or stages,
to the evolution of a practical and efficient form of representative
government, and these are:
71:2.5
1.
Freedom of the person.
Slavery, serfdom, and all forms of
human bondage must disappear.
71:2.6
2.
Freedom of the mind.
Unless a free people are educated
-- taught to think intelligently and plan wisely -- freedom usually does
more harm than good.
71:2.7
3.
The reign of law.
Liberty can be enjoyed only when the will
and whims of human rulers are replaced by legislative enactments in
accordance with accepted fundamental law.
71:2.8
4.
Freedom of speech.
Representative government is unthinkable without freedom of all forms of
expression for human aspirations and opinions.
71:2.9
5.
Security of property.
No government can long endure if it fails
to provide for the right to enjoy personal property in some form. Man
craves the right to use, control, bestow, sell, lease, and bequeath his
personal property.
71:2.10
6.
The right of petition.
Representative government assumes
THE RIGHT OF CITIZENS TO BE HEARD. The privilege of petition is
inherent in FREE CITIZENSHIP.
71:2.117.
The right to rule.
It is not enough to be heard; THE
POWER OF PETITION must progress to THE ACTUAL MANAGEMENT OF THE
GOVERNMENT.
71:2.12
8.
Universal suffrage.
Representative
government presupposes an intelligent, efficient, and universal
electorate. The character of such a government will ever be determined
by the character and caliber of those who compose it. As civilization
progresses, suffrage, while remaining universal for both sexes, will be
effectively modified, regrouped, and
otherwise differentiated.
71:2.139.
Control of public servants.
No civil government will be serviceable and effective unless the
citizenry possess and use wise techniques of
guiding
and controllingofficeholders and public
servants.
71:2.14
10.
Intelligent and trained representation.
The survival of democracy is
dependent on successful representative government; and that is
conditioned upon the practice of electing to public offices only those
individuals who are technically trained, intellectually competent,
socially loyal, and morally fit. Only by such provisions can government
of the people, by the people, and for the people be preserved.
UB
From the Urantia
Teachings
134:6.1If
one man craves freedom -- liberty -- he must remember that all
other men long for the same freedom. Groups of such liberty-loving
mortals cannot live together in peace without becoming subservient
to such laws, rules, and regulations as will grant each person the
same degree of freedom while at the same time safeguarding an
equal degree of freedom for all of his fellow mortals. If one man
is to be absolutely free, then another must become an absolute
slave. And the relative nature of freedom is true socially,
economically, and politically. Freedom is the gift of civilization
made possible by the enforcement of LAW.
134:6.2Religion makes it
spiritually possible to realize the brotherhood of men, but it
will require mankind government to regulate the social, economic,
and political problems associated with such a goal of human
happiness and efficiency.
134:6.3
There shall be wars and rumors of wars -- nation will rise against
nation -- just as long as the world's political sovereignty is
divided up and unjustly held by a group of nation-states. England,
Scotland, and Wales were always fighting each other until they
gave up their respective sovereignties, reposing them in the
United Kingdom.
134:6.4
Another world war will teach the so-called sovereign nations to
form some sort of federation, thus creating the machinery for
preventing small wars, wars between the lesser nations. But global
wars will go on until the government of mankind is created. Global
sovereignty will prevent global wars -- nothing else can.
UB
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Beauty
Beauty is always triumphant
over ugliness in the hearts of all who are illuminated by the
love of truth.
When, by living faith, you
become divinely God-conscious, you are then born of the spirit
as children of light and life, even the eternal life wherewith
you shall ascend the universe of universes and attain the
experience of finding God.
When you have faith, when
power from on high, the Spirit of Truth, has come upon you, you
will not hide your light behind closed doors; you will make
known the love and the mercy of God to all mankind.
Truth having to do with
spiritual realities and eternal values cannot always be built up
by combining facts. Although individual facts may be materially
true, it does not follow that the association of a group of
facts must necessarily lead to truthful spiritual conclusions.
The consciousness of a
victorious human life on earth is born of that creature faith
which dares to challenge each recurring episode of existence
when confronted with the awful spectacle of human limitations,
by the unfailing declaration: Even if I cannot do this, there
lives in me one who can and will do it...
All efforts to obtain
wholesome diversion and to engage in uplifting play are sound;
refreshing sleep, rest, recreation, and all pastimes which
prevent the boredom of monotony are worth while.