On 10 December 1948, the Univeral Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) set out fundamental human rights to be protected worldwide.

That was 75 years ago. The UDHR has since been translated into over 500 languages and used as a basis to guide many government, community and private sector policies.

“The UDHR is widely recognized as having inspired, and paved the way for, the adoption of more than seventy human rights treaties, applied today on a permanent basis at global and regional levels (all containing references to it in their preambles.”
(United Nations)

What does the UDHR mean for Australian businesses?

To mark the 75th anniversary of the UDHR, the UN Global Compact Australia (UNGCA) spoke to practitioners about what this means to business in Australia. Watch the video below to hear their views.

Human rights principles for businesses

The UNGCNA’s video follows on from an event in August 2023, where human rights practitioners, government, and industry representatives discussed business and human rights. The event was called “Bringing home the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights”. It included dialogue on issues specific to Australian businesses, such as impacts on First Nations peoples, protecting cultural heritage, human impacts of technological change, and other issues.

Read the UNGCNA blog for insights from the event relating to Australian business and human rights.

Your business and human rights

To find out more about how to consider human rights as part of your business practices, see these Green Street articles and other resources:

• Human rights principles for businesses
• Why modern slavery and human rights are an issue for all businesses
• UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights

Eleanor Roosevelt holding a poster of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (in English), Lake Success, New York. November 1949. FDR Presidential Library & Museum, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Green Street News | Published 13 December 2023