Book Description

Now available online: The Global Politics of Human Rights: Bringing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) into the 21st Century (2020), a publication from the Berlin Forum on Global Politics (BFoGP) in collaboration with the Institute for Global Dialogue and the RECLAIM! Universal Human Rights Initiative. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), even more than 70 years after its adoption, continues to provide the foundation for national and international laws concerned with human dignity and the universal and inalienable freedoms and claims of every person. A living document, the core principles enshrined in the UDHR are as relevant as ever to better the human condition and societies worldwide. This collected volume is an open knowledge publication, freely accessible under a Creative Commons license, which includes 24 articles written by numerous well-informed stakeholders from across the globe, who include human rights scholars and practitioners, experts and activists, researchers and members of civil society and non-governmental organizations. It addresses particular aspects of the history of the UDHR, the expansion and implementation of its Articles, its role in the prevention of violence, and its potential to address a changing world. As a whole, the publication serves two goals: on the one hand, it clarifies why the UDHR continues to be strongly relevant to the contemporary values, dynamics, and conditions of human rights in the 21st century; and, on the other hand, it illustrates how the UDHR and its Articles can be further adapted and implemented to uphold and safeguard human rights even in times when global politics often follow the siren songs of populism, authoritarianism, nativism, and extremism.