Universal Declaration of Human Rights
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The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948 at the Palais de Chaillot, Paris. The Declaration arose directly from the experience of the Second World War and represents the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled.
Origins and academic freedom
Freedom of speech and expression has a long history that predates modern international human rights instruments. Ancient Athenians believed that the power of persuasion is the most enduring force in a culture, one that must not and can not be stifled. It is thought that ancient Athens’ democratic ideology of free speech emerged in the later 6th or early 7th Century BC. Two of the most cherished values of the Roman Republic were freedom of religion and freedom of speech. In Islamic ethics freedom of speech was first declared in the Rashidun period by the caliph Umar in the 7th century. In the Abbasid Caliphate period, freedom of speech was also declared by al-Hashimi (a cousin of Caliph al-Ma'mun) in a letter to one of the religious opponents he was attempting to convert through reason. According to George Makdisi and Hugh Goddard, "the idea of academic freedom" in universities was "modelled on Islamic custom" as practiced in the medieval Madrasah system from the 9th century. Islamic influence was "certainly discernible in the foundation of the first deliberately-planned university" in Europe, the University of Naples Federico II founded by Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor in 1224.
The modern concept of freedom of speech emerged gradually during the European Enlightenment. The England’s Bill of Rights 1689 granted 'freedom of speech in Parliament'. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which issued from the French Revolution of 1789, specifically affirmed freedom of speech as an inalienable right. In 1791, freedom of speech was included in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
See also
