Ethos

It's fair to call the Universal Declaration of Human Rights a list of ethical principles. Human rights philosophy, as contained in this document, is one of the most important ethical systems in the modern world.

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Throughout the text, you find appeals to the principles of right and wrong through specific vocabulary that emphasizes the dignity of humankind. This is especially true in the preamble. The opening lines cite the need to recognize the "inherent dignity" of the "human family" (Preamble.1) in order to promote freedom and justice. The preamble also refers to the morally "barbarous acts" (Preamble.2) of World War II, which alerted the world to the need for a codification of the right and wrong treatment of human beings.

The key authoritative word in the title is "universal." The authority of the document comes from the idea that it is meant to be a "common understanding of these rights and freedoms" (Preamble.7)—an official list agreed to by all the nations who signed it. The UDHR is presented in the manner of a treaty or resolution, appealing to order and law as opposed to emotion and passion. By proclaiming itself as a "common standard of achievement" (Preamble.8), the text makes a claim to be of the highest order of moral importance.

The text doesn't really attempt to convinceyou of its points either through emotion or persuasion. Its content is presented as an on-the-face-of-it description of right and wrong, and its authority is implied to be the consent of the world of nations. And how can you argue with something you wrote yourself, right?