List

The declaration is a list of articles, with each article naming a human right. The articles range from specific (no torture, no slavery) to kind of, sort of vague (everyone has duties to the community). The list format reflects the same structure as some of the documents that influenced the declaration, such as the Bill of Rights and the Magna Carta.

How It Breaks Down

Preamble

Hey, remember that war we just fought where millions died and everyone treated each other like subhumans? Let's not do that again. In fact, here's a list of things everyone in every country is entitled to. Follow these if you want to be a free country.

Articles 1-2: Basic Rights

We're all human (or "yuman," if you're from Brooklyn). That means that we're born free, with the ability to think for ourselves. The declaration applies to everybody regardless of race, color, sex, nationality, or dancing ability.

Articles 3-12: Personal Rights

These are your basic rights to life, liberty, and safety. Most importantly, everybody gets a fair trial in the courts, is presumed innocent until proven guilty, and can't be arrested at random. This section is all about ensuring that everybody gets equal protection under the law.

Articles 13-17: Political Rights

Within your own country, you're free to move around as you please. If you're being persecuted by your country's government, you have the right to seek protection in another country. Marriage and family, the foundation of society, are protected as human rights.

Articles 18-21: Freedom of Thought

You can say what you want, think what you want, and believe what you want. Everyone has the right to access information in any form across national borders.

Articles 22-27: Economic and Social Rights

You have the right to be free from want (a nicer word for starvation, perhaps). That means the right to work, social security, fair pay, and good working conditions. Even vacation time is enshrined as a human right. Shmoop can totally get behind that one.

Articles 28-30: Duties to the Community

Everybody is entitled to participate in all the good things that come with community, like art and science. You also have "duties to the community" (29.1), though the text doesn't say exactly what these are. Finally, the big caveat is that no right can interfere with someone else's right. The text is not to be used to contradict the "principles of the United Nations" (29.3). So stop looking for loopholes, people.