Today, Sunday, December 10, is the 75th anniversary of the international community’s most canonical human rights statement – the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Promulgated by the UN General Assembly on December 10, 1948 – in the wake of the horrors of World War II – the Declaration sets forth what its drafters considered the most basic rights all people should enjoy, regardless of race, religious creed or nationality.

Indeed, none of these human categories appear in the Declaration. The Magna Carta of Human Rights, Eleanor Roosevelt called it.

Canadian John Peter Humphrey, author of Declaration’s first draft, and Eleanor Roosevelt, chair of the Declaration’s drafting committee.

The GPM spoke about the Universal Declaration with Rhoda Howard-Hassmann. Hassmann is a Canadian social scientist specializing in international human rights. From 2003 to 2016, she held the Canada Research Chair in International Human Rights at Wilfrid Laurier University, in Waterloo, Ontario. In June 2023, Hassmann was appointed to the Order of Canada.

Hassmann has written numerous books. Among these: State Food Crimes, The Human Right to Citizenship, Can Globalization Promote Human Rights, Reparations to Africa, The Age of Apology and In Defense of Universal Human Rights.

Listen to our conversation in today’s podcast. Click on the play button above, or go here.

Listen to our complete conversation here:

According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has the right to life, liberty and personal security. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention, it says, or to degrading treatment, punishment or torture. All people are equal before the law, presumed innocent until proven guilty, with the right to be well defended in a public trial.

In the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, these rights are routinely and systematically denied.

Since the start of Israel’s belligerent occupation, 55 years ago, the Israeli military has jailed an estimated million Palestinians – typically inside 1948 Israel, in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention (Article 76) — often without charge or trial.

Israel’s Palestinian prisoners are routinely abused, denied food and medical treatment, and tortured.

Hundreds of youths and children are detained and jailed each year.

Palestinian youth detained at a Hebron checkpoint.

The GPM spoke about Israel’s carceral system with Milena Ansari, back in the summer of 2022. Ansari is international advocacy officer with the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, a Palestinian NGO based in Ramallah, occupied Palestine.

Listen to our conversation in today’s podcast. Click on the play button above, or go here.

Thanks to Dan Weisenberger for his wonderful guitar instrumentals.