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Human Rights: fun facts and quiz
The essentials in 7 ideas, with fun facts, an illustrated story and a quiz to see how much you know.
The essentials
The Universal Declaration
In 1948, the UN adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, setting out rights for everyone, everywhere, like life, liberty and freedom of thought.
Key fact
Eleanor Roosevelt chaired the committee that drafted it.
Freedom of Expression
Freedom of expression lets people share ideas and opinions, including criticism of governments. Most countries set some limits, for example on threats or incitement.
Key fact
A free press helps hold the powerful to account.
Children’s Rights
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, from 1989, protects children’s rights to education, health, play and protection. It’s the most widely ratified human rights treaty.
Key fact
Almost every country in the world has ratified it.
Equality
Human rights say everyone is equal in dignity and rights, without discrimination based on race, sex, religion or any other status.
Key fact
Article 1: all humans are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
The Civil Rights Movement
In the 1950s and 60s, Americans like Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks peacefully fought racial segregation. The Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964.
Key fact
Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963.
Protecting Rights
Courts and campaign groups defend human rights. The European Court of Human Rights hears cases from 46 countries, and groups like Amnesty International campaign worldwide.
Key fact
Amnesty International won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977.
Peacemakers
The Nobel Peace Prize honours work for peace and rights. In 2014, Malala Yousafzai became its youngest winner, aged 17, for campaigning for girls’ education.
Key fact
Nelson Mandela shared the prize in 1993.
Fun facts
The Universal Declaration has been translated into over 500 languages, making it the world’s most translated document.
Sweden’s Freedom of the Press Act of 1766 was the world’s first law protecting press freedom.
The United States is the only UN member that hasn’t ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
A draft of the Declaration said “all men”. India’s Hansa Mehta pushed to change it to “all human beings”.
Months before Rosa Parks, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin refused to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, in 1955.
Amnesty International began in 1961 with a newspaper article about two students jailed for toasting freedom.
Mandela shared the 1993 prize with F. W. de Klerk, South Africa’s last apartheid-era president.
Story: Nobody Voted Against
Nobody Voted Against
After the horrors of the Second World War, a UN committee chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt spends two years drafting rights for every human being.
They argue over every word. Should rights come from God or from nature? Is work a right? Late at night on 10 December 1948, in Paris, the vote comes.
Forty-eight countries vote yes, eight abstain, and none vote no. The hall rises to give Eleanor Roosevelt a standing ovation.
True or false?
Tap your answer to see if you got it, and why.
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Question 1 of 10
Eleanor Roosevelt chaired the committee that drafted the Declaration.
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True. She was a former US first lady.
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Question 2 of 10
Freedom of expression includes criticising governments.
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True. That’s a key part of it.
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Question 3 of 10
The Convention on the Rights of the Child is very widely ratified.
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True. More than any other human rights treaty.
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Question 4 of 10
Human rights apply to everyone equally.
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True. Without discrimination.
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Question 5 of 10
The US Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964.
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True. It outlawed discrimination by race, religion or sex.
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Question 6 of 10
Amnesty International campaigns for human rights.
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True. Around the world.
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Question 7 of 10
Malala Yousafzai won the Nobel Peace Prize for campaigning for girls’ education.
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True. The youngest winner ever.
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Question 8 of 10
Human rights apply only to citizens of rich countries.
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False. They apply to everyone.
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Question 9 of 10
Freedom of expression has no limits anywhere.
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False. Most countries set some limits.
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Question 10 of 10
Children have no rights of their own.
Show the answer
False. They have rights protected by treaty.
Keep going in the app
KnowSoda learns what you know and brings back what you’re about to forget. Human Rights has 6 more ideas at the Advanced and Expert levels.
Sources
- United Nations — Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- UNICEF — Convention on the Rights of the Child
- European Court of Human Rights — The Court in brief
- Nobel Prize — Peace prizes (Amnesty International 1977, Mandela 1993, Yousafzai 2014)
- U.S. National Archives — Civil Rights Act of 1964
- UNHCR — The 1951 Refugee Convention; global trends
- ILO, Walk Free & IOM (2022), Global Estimates of Modern Slavery
- International Committee of the Red Cross — The Geneva Conventions
- UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs — Indigenous peoples
