Modules

Learn more about learning modules

The United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Welcome

Module 1 provides an introduction to the United Nations (UN) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). In this course, you will be introduced to several international human rights standards – treaties, principles, declarations, etc; all of these have been negotiated and agreed under UN auspices. So you need to understand the source of the UN’s authority in this area.

Learning objectives

Upon completion of this module, you will be able to:

  1. identify the four key factors that distinguish international human rights norms
  2. describe key features of international law, and use relevant international legal terminology
  3. explain the way the UN Charter creates human rights obligations on UN Member States; and
  4. be familiar with the text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and in particular the various rights it proclaims.