The United Nations
Universal Declaration of
30 Human Rights, 1948
Revised 25 November 2010
Literacy is a right that should be free to everyone, anywhere, anytime.
_________________
Human Rights understood by all
The UN Declaration of Human Rights as it stands is short and intelligible enough for educated people, but language and length are still too hard for everyone. A shorter, simpler version could be understood by all, and be a ready reference. It could be part of the humanist curriculum for schools, and agreement with it part of the admission to citizenship.
The 30 clauses, set out in around 950 words, could fit on one page, or in large print, on two sides of one sheet. Its vocabulary should be known by all, because these words are at the heart of democracy. The 30 rights can also be set out as slogans, short enough to list on passports as reminders of what nations require of their citizens.
Our multicultural societies risk division by segregation. New immigrants need more help to adapt, as they must. The whole population needs to know how to help, and to pull up their own socks. Migrants may bring with them values, beliefs and practices that downgrade or restrict women, deny religious freedoms, or youth that has been accustomed to violence. All these problems are in our own past, and latent still.
It consists of Rights, Freedoms to and Freedoms from, and Responsibilities.
RIGHTS. All citizens could all be expected to understand and accept that all people are born free and equal, and have the same rights without discrimination - political rights to life, liberty, justice, fair trials, privacy, security of person, and recognition and protection by the law, to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, and to be given asylum from persecution; the right to a nationality, and to take part in their government; rights to a decent standard of living, work, a fair wage, join a trade union, own property, marry and have a family, social security, education, rest and leisure, and to participate freely in their community and enjoy the benefits of our progress, in an international order that makes these possible to realise.
“FREEDOMS TO” are freedoms of thought, conscience, religion, opinion, expression, peaceful assembly, association, and freedom of movement.
“FREEDOMS FROM include freedoms from slavery, servitude, torture, and arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
RESPONSIBILITIES. With these rights go duties to the community, in order to be full citizens. No one has the right to destroy any of these rights or freedoms for others.
Here is a very quick summary of what could be the equivalent of a bill of rights and citizenship test for every country of the world. Since even in Western countries they are not all taken as manifestly accepted, everyone is asked to think about each clause.
___________________________________________________
VERSION I . A veri short sumary for everi-one to lern and un-der-stand.
A very short summary for every one to lern and understand.
Present spelling
|
Spelling without traps.
33 very common irregular words + -ion ar the only ones lernd by rote. No mor than three spellings for each sound.
|
Dictionary pronunciation gide and beginners spelling.
|
1. All people are born free and equal
2. Everyone has the same rights, whoever they are.
3.
The right to life, liberty and to be safe.
4. No slavery in any form.
5. No torture.
6.
Recognized as a person by the law.
7.
Protected by the law.
8. The Right to justice.
9. No arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
10.
The Right to a fair trial.
11.
Innocent unless proven guilty.
12. The Right to privacy.
13. Freedom of movement.
14.
The Right to asylum from persecution.
15. The Right to a nationality.
16. The Right to marry and have a family.
17. The right to have property.
18. Freedom of thought, conscience and religion
19. Freedom of opinion and expression
20.Freedom of peaceful assembly and association
21. The right to take part in government
22.
The right to social security and the benefits of society's progress
23.The right to work, fair pay, and to join a trade union
24. The right to rest and leisure
25. The right to a decent standard of living
26.
The right to education
27. The right to have international order so these rights can be realised
28. The right to take part freely in the community.
29.Everyone has duties to their community
30.
No one has the right to destroy any of these rights or freedoms
|
All peple ar born free and equal.
Everyone has the same rights, whoever they are.
The right to life, liberty and to be safe.
No slavery in eny form.
No torture.
Recognized as a person by the law.
Protected by the law.
The Right to justice.
No arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
The Right to a fair trial.
Innocent unless pruven gilty.
The Right to privacy.
Freedom of muvement.
The Right to asilum from persecution.
The Right to a nationality.
The Right to marry and hav a family.
The right to hav property.
Freedom of thaut, conshence and religion
Freedom of opinion and expression
Freedom of peaceful assembly and association
The right to take part in government
The right to social security and the benefits of society's progress
The right to wurk, fair pay, and to join a trade union
The right to rest and lesure
The right to a decent standard of living
The right to education
The right to hav international order so these rights can be realised
The right to take part freely in the community.
Everyone has duties to their community.
No one has the right to destroy eny of these rights or freedoms
|
Aul pèpl ar born frè and èkwal.
Everi-one has the sàm rìts, hoo-ever thà ar.
The rìt to lìf, liberti, and to bè sàf.
Nò slàveri in eni form.
Nò tortùr.
Recognìzd az a person bì the lau.
Protected bì the lau.
The rìt tù justis.
Nò arbitrari arest, detenshon or exìl.
The rìt tù a fair trìal.
Inosent unles prùven gilti.
The rìt tù prìvasi.
Frèdom of mùvment.
The rìt tù asìlum from persecùshn.
The rìt tù a nashonaliti.
The rìt tù marri and hav a famili.
The rìt tù hav properti.
Frèdom ov thaut, conshens and relijon
Frèdom ov opinion and expreshn
Frèdom ov pèsfuul asembli and asòsiàshn.
The rìt tù tàk part in guvernment.
The rìt tù sòshl sekùriti and the benefits of socìeti's prògres
The rìt tù wurk, fair pà, and tù join a tràd ùnion
The rìt tù rest and lezhur
The rìt tù a dèsent standard ov living
The rìt tù edùcàshn
The rìt tù hav internashnal order so tthèz rìt kan be rèalìzd
The rìt tù tàk part frèli in the komùniti
Evri-wun haz dùtiz tù thair komùniti
Nò wun haz the rìt tù destroi eni ov thèz rìts or frèdom
|
For each item, think, do you agree? If not, why not?
For èch ì-tem, think, dù u a-grè? If not, wì not?
For each item, think, dù u agree? If not, why not?
Spelling Without Traps (qv) has no mor than 2 posibilities for eny spelling pattern. The next step -
1. All peple ar born free and equol.
2. Every-one has the same rights , who-ever thay ar.
3. The right to life, liberty and to be safe.
4. No slàvery in eny form
5. No tortùre
6. Recognìzed as a person by the law
7. Protected by the law
8. The right to justice
9. No arbitrary arrest, detention or exile
10 The right to a fair trìal
11. Innocent unless prùven gilty
12. The right to privacy
13. Freedom of mùvement
14.The right to asìlum from persecùtion
15.The right to a nationality
16.The right to marry and hav a family
17.The right to hav property
18. Freedom of thaut, consience and religion
19.Freedom of opinion and expression
20.Freedom of peaceful assembly and assòciàtion
21. The right to take part in guvernment
22. The right to sòcial secùrity and the benefits of socìety's prògress
23.The right to work,fair pay, and to join a trade ùnion
24. The right to rest and lezhur
25.The right to a dècent standard of living
26.The right to edùcàtion
27. The right to take part freely in the commùnity
28. The right to hav international order so these rights can be rèalized.
29. Everyone has dùtys to thair commùnity
30. No one has the right to destroy eny of theze rights or freedoms
Summarised by Bruce McCubbery 1999
AND Lit-er-a-si is a rìt that should be frè to ev-er-i-one, eni-where, eni-tìm.
AND Literacy is a right that should be free to every-one, enywhere, enytime.
Note - for beginrs, the dictionry can hav hìfens to make reading long words esier.The hìfens make pronunciation easier. Thay are not based on tru sillabls. e.g.
The rìt to sò-shal sec-ùr-it-i and the ben-e-fits of sò-sì-et-i's pro-gress
Ferst lerning: Simpl spel-ing for be-gin-r-s, with sound-letter relationships based on the BBC Pronunciation Guide, and 36 very common 'sight wurds'.
Modify it to Spelling without traps for readers See English Spelling Rules on One Page
Present spelling can then remain acsessable .
A short 950-words version -one page of small print, one double-sided sheet of larger print - of the full Declaration is suitable for schools, new immigrants and all citizens, as well as for international use. It can be found at http://home.vicnet.net.au/~ozideas/humrights.htm and in an earlier version of this article on Online Opinion, Jan 17 2008, athttp://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=6881
As an example of my right to free speech, add The right to literacy should be added to these rights. 'Everyone has the right to free access to literacy, anywhere, anytime'. An implication of this is that writing sistems must and can be made as user-frendly as possibl, while remaining close to the appearance of present print to maintain easy acsess. Lerning literacy must also be made as easy as possibl, including simpl methods of self-help: See. http://home.vicnet.net.au/~ozideas/sprules1p.htm
Short history of our declarations of rights
OUR HISTORY. The history behind the UN Declaration is a way to teach world history and the foundations to our own history, showing what hard struggles have obtained these precious rights and freedoms, not to be given up lightly. “History” in our schools should include its background.
Magna Carta is the Charter of 37 rights that the English barons forced King John to sign in 1215. It became the basis for English rights, including protection from arbitrary detention (habeas corpus) and arbitrary taxes.
The American Declaration of Independence, 1776, famously states that all humans are created equal, with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And we add, the pursuit of truth.
Liberty, Equality, and Brotherhood was the hope of the French Revolution 1795.
The Four Freedoms set out in 1941 during World War II, following Churchill and Roosevelt’s Anglo-American Atlantic Charter, are Freedom from hunger, Freedom from fear, Freedom of speech, and Freedom of worship.
History also shows us no steady progress. There are repeated roll-backs. Few countries today would score 30 out of 30. An annual Human Rights Ladder could/should be as publicly competitive as national medal scores in Olympic Games.
We can monitor our own legislation for how it matches up, or falls away, and why. Eroding basic freedoms attacks other freedoms. The foundations of all freedoms in the U N Declaration are freedom from fear and from want. Who are the fortunate and free, and what can be done about the unfortunate?
31. The right to literacy should be added to these rights. 'Everyone has the right to free access to literacy, anywhere, anytime'. An implication of this is that writing systems must be made as user-frendly as possible, while remaining close to the appearance of present print to maintain easy access. Lerning literacy must also be made as easy as possibl, including simpl methods of self-help: -
* Using modern comunications such as TV, online and DVD - http://www.ozreadandspell.com.au/
* Improved dictionary pronunciation gides, based possibly on
http://home.vicnet.net.au/~ozideas/spbbcguide.htm
* ‘Triple-line’ books that lead from sound-simbol correspondence to full texts on the same page. http://home.vicnet.net.au/~ozideas/humrights.htm
* The rules of English spelling could be reduced to one page, eliminating unnecessary unpredictable spellings. All that is needed is thinking inovativly. http://home.vicnet.net.au/~ozideas/sprules1p.htm
Even the Short Version is not accessible by those who cannot read. They may have personal disabilities, such as dyslexia or low intelligence, or environmental handicaps such as educational disadvantage. However pleased we may be with our top players in reading, the groups that fail to read and write are too large.
Part of the problem is the words they do not know.
But a big part is the spelling.
Can we make the spelling less of a barrier to them?
Let us experiment with parallel texts.
SEE Dictionary Spelling Charts and tables with International Phonetic Alphabet
BACK to Spelling main pages
BACK to Ozideas
_____________________________ |