This is an archive of special readings composed for, or relevant to, the International Day of Democracy, commemorated by all UN member states for the sake of promoting and upholding democracy, a fundamental principle outlined under Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. First observed in 2008, the day was ratified through United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/RES/62/7, "Support by the United Nations system of the efforts of Governments to promote and consolidate new or restored democracies." The resolution was introduced after the sixth conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), an international organization of national parliaments established in 1889. Its primary purpose is to promote democratic governance, accountability, and cooperation among its members; other initiatives include advancing gender parity among legislatures, empowering youth participation in politics, and sustainable development. Click here to contribute a reading you have prepared for the International Day of Democracy. Filter resources by Name Filter resources by Tag Filter resources by Category Filter resources by Language Filter resources by Date Range
This is De Rechten van den Menschen van den Burger (“The Rights of Man and of the Citizen” 1795) and its Hebrew translation, דברי הברית החקים והמשפטים אשר בין אדם לאדם (1798), upon the establishment of the Batavian Republic and the ensuing emancipation of Dutch Jewry in the Netherlands. The text of the Declaration, with nineteen articles, follows after the French Republic’s much expanded Déclaration des droits de l’Homme et du citoyen de 1793 written by Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles. (The French Declaration, ratified by popular vote in July 1793, was a revision of the initial Declaration from 1789 written by the commission that included Hérault de Séchelles and Louis Antoine Léon de Saint-Just during the period of the French Revolution.) Declarations such as these enshrined the liberal values of the Enlightenment which changed the situation and status of Jews under their aegis. Ultimately, these values were largely enshrined under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by member states of the nascent United Nations in 1945. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): The fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, initially proposed by Congress on 13 June 1866 and adopted on 9 July 1868 was the second of three Reconstruction Amendments addressing citizenship rights and equal protection under the law. It was enacted in response to issues related to emancipated slaves following the failure of the Slaveholders’ Rebellion (1861-1865). Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): The four freedoms as articulated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his address before the 77th Congress of the United States. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): A Declaration of Interdependence co-authored during WW II as part of an interfaith Jewish-Christian response to fascism and “to mitigate racial and religious animosity in America.” Categories: Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., American Jewry of the United States, anti-authoritarian, anti-fascist, anti-racist, civil declarations and charters, human solidarity, interconnectedness, interdependence, interfaith tolerance, pluralism, United States Contributor(s): The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English with its translations in Hebrew, Yiddish, and Ladino. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): |
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