Eleanor Roosevelt played a key role as a member of the US delegation to the United Nations in the two-year-long process that led to the adoption in 1948 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
She famously said that the “real change which must give to people throughout the world their human rights must come about in the hearts of people”.
As the 75th anniversary of the Declaration is celebrated, UN News looks back on her contribution to global rights and freedoms.
Listen here to Ms. Roosevelt reading the Declaration, part of our series showcasing epic moments across UN history, cultivated from the UN Audiovisual Library’s 49,400 hours of video and 18,000 hours of audio recordings.
For a front-row seat to the past, catch up on our series here, and watch UN Video’s Stories from the UN Archive playlist here. Join us every #ThrowbackThursday for a dive into history.
And to bring things up to date, here’s the Secretary-General’s video message for this Human Rights Day, 10 December, in which he warns that authoritarianism is on the rise once again.
“Today it is more important than ever to promote and respect all human rights – social, cultural, economic, civil and political – which protect us all”, he says.