1998 – the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
1998 highlighted the global commitment to these fundamental and inalienable human rights as the world commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of the Uni- versal Declaration of Human Rights. The Universal Declaration was one of the first major achievements of the United Nations and after 50 years remains a powerful instrument affecting people’s lives throughout the world. Since 1948, the Universal Declaration has been translated into more than 250 lan- guages (available at OHCHR website at http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/index.htm) and remains one of the best known and most cited human rights documents in the world. The commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary provided the opportunity to reflect on the achievements of the past fifty years and chart a course for the next century.
Under the theme All Human Rights for All, the fiftieth anniversary highlighted the universality, indivisibility and interrelationship of all human rights. It rein- forced the idea that human rights – civil, cultural, economic, political and social – should be taken in their totality and not dissociated.