Credit Hanson Phan – CC-BY-SA
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 (General Assembly resolution 217 A) as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. It sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected and it has been translated into over 500 languages.
Article 15.
(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.
This seems obvious in this age of nations. One of the fundamental attributes of a person is their nationality. It’s not a given, though. There is always the threat of disenfranchisement, and article 15 is meant to prevent that. We are all entitled to have, keep or change our nationality.
rjb
