Equal and Inalienable Rights: Essays on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

“If there is to be perpetual peace in a world of nation states, the individuals who live in them must be free, their human rights must be respected.”

So wrote John Peters Humphrey, the Canadian legal scholar and diplomat who penned the first draft of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The UDHR, which celebrated its 75th anniversary on December 10, 2023, reflected a fundamental, international consensus: that the rights of each person did not and could not depend solely on their government of the day. Instead, it was necessary to recognize that certain basic rights are universal, inherent, and inalienable.

75 years after the UDHR’s adoption, however, some of these principles are facing increasing challenges. Is it still possible to speak of “universal” commitments in our polarized age? How might the UDHR inform the way we approach these current legal issues, or the interpretation of similar human rights entrenched domestically? What are the sources and meaning of human rights? What are the challenges we face in their meaningful realization in Canada and around the world today, and how do we address them?

These age-old questions are perhaps ones that every generation must wrestle with, but we may learn a great deal from those who have gone before us, while also adopting fresh approaches to contemporary challenges and opportunities. This special collection, birthed out of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at 75 Symposium at the University of Toronto (Wycliffe College), seeks to contribute to this project by offering diverse Canadian and international perspectives on these questions, and various related themes.

The Collection of Papers

1. Melanie Bueckert & Derek Ross – Universal, Inherent, and Inalienable Human Rights: An Introduction
2. Nazila Ghanea – Reflections on the 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
3. Blair Major – The Dignity of Religious Freedom
4. The Hon. Christopher Mainella & Melanie R. Bueckert – Canadian (Con)Fusion: The Impact of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on Religious Freedom in Canada
5. Farrah Raza – The Right to Freedom of Religion or Belief: The Challenge of Defining Religion
6. Derek B.M. Ross – The Meaning of the Right of Equal Access to Public Service
7. Debra M. Haak – Two Different Conceptions of Equality: Arguments About the Constitutionality of Commercial Sex Laws in Canada
8. Tersha F. De Koning – The Edges of Punishment: Article 5’s Prohibition Against Torture and the Like
9. Dr. Marcus Moore – Freedom of Thought and the Information Revolution
10. The Hon. Michel Bastarache, CC, RC – The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Opening the Door to the Recognition of Social Rights
11. Dwight Newman, KC – The UDHR and Collective Rights
12. Derek B.M. Ross – “The Natural and Fundamental Group Unit of Society”: The Universal Rights of the Family
13. William A. Schabas – The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Voices of the Global South
14. Ryan Alford – The Enduring Significance of the UDHR’s Characterization of Rights as Inherent and Inalienable
15. The Hon. Peter D. Lauwers & Eric Fleming – A Reflection on When and How Judicial Reasoning May Resort to Moral Philosophy
16. A.J. Hobbins – The First Draft of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
17. Habib C. Malik – The Human Rights Challenge for Our Times: Charles Malik and the Universal Declaration at 75

Equal and Inalienable Rights: Essays on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a collection of papers developed out of the Supreme Court Law Review, Third Series.