ON DECEMBER 10, 1948, a historic event occurred. Delegates from forty-eight nations representing all parts of the world came together to issue a declaration. In this declaration, called the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, these nations proclaimed that people everywhere had fundamental rights, called human rights. "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights," the nations declared. They then described in detail the rights that all forty-eight nations agreed were fundamental rights, and each country pledged to uphold and promote these rights internationally.

The human rights recognized in this declaration were sweeping in scope. They included, among many others, the right to a fair, public trial if accused of a crime; the right to food, clothing, shelter, and medical care; the right to a free primary education; the right to participate in one's government...