Article 1
When children are born, they are free and each should be treated in
the same way. They have reason and conscience and should act towards one
another in a friendly manner.
Article 2
Everyone can claim the following rights, despite
- a different sex
- a different skin colour
- speaking a different language
- thinking different things
- believing in another religion
- owning more or less
- being born in another social group
- coming from another country.
It also makes no difference whether the country you live in is independent or not.
Article 3
You have the right to live, and to live in freedom and safety.
Article 4
Nobody has the right to treat you as his or her slave and you
should not make anyone your slave.
Article 5
Nobody has the right to torture you.
Article 6
You should be legally protected in the same way everywhere, and like
everyone else.
Article 7
The law is the same for everyone; it should be applied in the same way
to all.
Article 8
You should be able to ask for legal help when the rights your country
grants you are not respected.
Article 9
Nobody has the right to put you in prison, to keep you there, or to
send you away from your country unjustly, or without a good reason.
Article 10
If you must go on trial this should be done in public. The people who
try you should not let themselves be influenced by others.
Article 11
You should be considered innocent until it can be proved that you are
guilty. If you are accused of a crime, you should always have the right to
defend yourself. Nobody has the right to condemn you and punish you for something you have not done.
Article 12
You have the right to ask to be protected if someone tries to harm
your good name, enter your house, open you letters, or bother you or your
family without a good reason.
Article 13
You have the right to come and go as you wish within your country.
You have the right to leave your country to go to another one; and you should
be able to return to your country if you want.
Article 14
If someone hurts you, you have the right to go to another country and
ask it to protect you.
You lose the right if you have killed someone and if you, yourself, do
not respect what is written here.
Article 15
You have the right to belong to a country and nobody can prevent you,
without a good reason, from belonging to another country if you wish.
Article 16
As soon as a person is legally entitled, he or she has the right to
marry and have a family. In doing this, neither the colour of your skin, the
country you come from nor your religion should be impediments. Men and women
have the same rights when they are married and also when they are separated.
Nobody should force a person to marry.
The government of your country should protect your family and its
members.
Article 17
You have the right to own things and nobody has the right to take these
from you without a good reason.
Article 18
You have the right to profess your religion freely, to change it, and
to practice it either on your own or with other people.
Article 19
You have the right to think what you want, to say what you like, and
nobody should forbid you from doing so.
You should be able to share your ideas also-with people from any
other country.
Article 20
You have the right to organize peaceful meetings or to take part in
meetings in a peaceful way. It is wrong to force someone to belong to a group.
Article 21
You have the right to take part in your country's political affairs
either by belonging to the government yourself or by choosing politicians
who have the same ideas as you. Governments should be voted for regularly
and voting should be secret. You should get a vote and all votes should be
equal. You also have the same right to join the public service as anyone else.
Article 22
The society in which you live should help you to develop and to make
the most of all the advantages (culture, work, social welfare) which are
offered to you and to all the men and women in your country.
Article 23
You have the right to work, to be free to choose your work, to get a
salary which allows you to live and support your family. If a man and a woman
do the same work, they should get the same pay. All people who work have the
right to join together to defend their interests.
Article 24
Each work day should not be too long, since everyone has the right to
rest and should be able to take regular paid holidays.
Article 25
You have the right to have whatever you need so that you and your
family: do not fall ill; go hungry; have clothes and a house; and are helped
if you are out of work, if you are ill, if you are old, if your wife or husband
is dead, or if you do not earn a living for any other reason you cannot help.
The mother who is going to have a baby, and her baby should get special
help. All children have the same rights, whether or not the mother is married.
Article 26
You have the right to go to school and everyone should to school.
Primary schooling should be free. You should be able to learn a profession
or continue your studies as far as you wish. At school, you should be able to
develop all your talents and you should be taught to get on with others,
whatever their race, religion or the country they come from. Your parents
have the right to choose how and what you will be taught at school.
Article 27
You have the right to share in your community's arts and sciences, and
any good they do. Your works as an artist, a writer, or a scientist should
be protected, and you should be able to benefit from them.
Article 28
So that your rights will be respected, there must be an 'order' which
can protect them. This 'order' would be local and worldwide.
Article 29
Your have duties towards the community within which your personality
can only fully develop. The law should guarantee human rights. It should allow
everyone to respect others and to be respected.
Article 30
In all parts of the world, no society, no human being, should take it
upon her of himself to act in such a way as to destroy the rights which you
have just been reading about.