The Universal Declaration at 70

In December 1948 Eleanor Roosevelt was part of the team that prepared the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which was then agreed by the United Nations General Assembly. For the past seven decades, the UDHR has been the cornerstone of the international human rights system, inspiring dozens of treaties, hundreds of organisations and countless grassroots activists. It is officially the world’s most “universal” document, holding a Guinness World Record for having been translated into more than 300 languages, from Abkhaz to Zulu. But across the world, human rights abuses persist and crimes against humanity continue to unfold. Attacks on human rights defenders are increasing and hard-won gains in protections are being rolled back in every continent. The very concept of human rights is being questioned, including by some of its staunchest defenders. Can the Declaration survive?

The presenter and leader of the discussion will be Natalie Samarasinghe, who is Executive Director of the United Nations Association – UK, where she has worked since 2006. She is the first woman to hold this role, leading the Association’s campaigning and advocacy work in the UK and internationally. She is a frequent writer and commentator on UN issues, in the media and in academic publications, including The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations. She is involved with a number of civil society organisations, including the Doc Society, Sri Lanka Campaign, UN2020 and the ‘1 for 7 Billion’ campaign to improve the Secretary-General selection process, which she co-founded. In 2018, Natalie was awarded a ‘New Shape Prize’ by the Global Challenges Foundation for her proposal: A truly global partnership – helping the UN to do itself out of a job. Prior to joining UNA-UK, Natalie worked in various roles in the public, private and education sectors. She has degrees in human rights and modern history from the University of Oxford and the London School of Economics.