 Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? After World War II, it was clear that the horrors of the war should never be allowed to occur again. Founded in 1945, the United Nations sought to prevent future atrocities by affirming, in its foundational charter, faith in fundamental human rights, the dignity and worth of the human person, and a commitment to promote better standards of life in larger freedom. In the years that followed, member states of the United Nations strived to develop the human rights provisions of the charter and capture them in a single document. It took three years to agree on a common vision. On the 10th of December 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations. Still, it is the first step in a great evolutionary process. It is the first occasion on which the organized community of nations has made a declaration of human rights and fundamental freedoms. It has the authority of the body of opinion of the United Nations as a whole. And millions of people, men and women and children all over the world will turn for hope and guidance and inspiration to this document. While history alone can determine the historic significance of an event, it is safe to say that the declaration before us may be destined to occupy an honorable place in the procession of positive landmarks in human history. The declaration consists of a preamble and 30 articles with article one powerfully proclaiming that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. No discrimination, right to life, liberty and security. No slavery, no torture or cruel inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Equal protection of the law, no arbitrary arrest, detention or exile. Fair and public hearing, no arbitrary interference with privacy. Right to freedom of movement, right to seek and enjoy asylum. Right to a nationality, right to marry and to found a family. Right to property, freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of peaceful assembly and association. Right to take part in government, right to work. Right to rest and leisure, right to food, clothing, housing, medical care and social services. Right to education, right to participate in cultural life. These human rights are not country specific. They are not a reward for good behavior or particular to a certain era or social group. They are the rights of people of every color, from every race and ethnic group. Whether or not they have disabilities, citizens or migrants. No matter their sex, their class, their caste, their creed, their age or sexual orientation. The Declaration has generated action for human rights protection in many ways. It has inspired hundreds of human rights instruments that together constitute international human rights law and a number of international bodies and mechanisms for human rights protection. The principles of the Declaration have supported the decolonization struggle and have been enshrined in the constitutions of the newly established countries which have joined the United Nations. The Declaration has inspired national and regional human rights protection systems including legislation and institutions. And it continues to guide the work of human rights defenders and advocates worldwide. Today the Declaration is available in more than 500 languages and dialects and it has obtained the Guinness World Record for the most translated document in the world. The 10th of December, the day on which the Declaration was adopted, is celebrated each year as Human Rights Day. The Declaration emphasizes the relevance of human rights in our daily lives. Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home, so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person, the neighborhood he lives in. The school or ecology attends, the factory, farm or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.