Street Law Project:

The Comparisons Between

The U.S Constitution
And
The UN Declaration Of Human Rights.

- Jacqueline Lazo
Law & Youth.

The UN Declaration of Human Rights.

The universal declaration of human rights was created and adopte
d in the united nations in 1948. It is a statement of basic human rights and sta
ndards for government that has been agreed upon by the international community.
The declaration states that all people have the right to liberty, education, pol
itical and religious freedom, and economic well-being. It also bans the torture
towards people and says that all people have the right to participate in their c
ountryâ s governmental process.
It states different things like
Article 1 :
Children are born free and should be treated in the same way as an anyone is tre
ated.
Article 2 :
Everyone can claim the same rights even if they
-are a different sex
-are a different skin color
-speak a different language
-believing in a different religion
-born in a different social group
-or coming from a different country
Article 3 :
Everyone has the right to live, and to live freely and safely.
Article 4 :
No one has the right to treat you as his or her slave. And you have no right to
make others your slave.
Article 5 :
No one has the right to torture you.
Article 6 :
You should be legally protected anywhere, and like everyone else.
Article 7 :
The law is equal to everyone and it should apply to everyone.
Article 8 :
You are allowed to have legal help, when asked, as long as the rights your count
ry grants you are respected.
Article 9 :
Nobody has the right to put you in prison, send you away from your country, with
out a probable cause. You are allowed to have legal help, when asked, as long as
the rights your country grants you are respected.
Article 10 :
Nobody has the right to put you in prison, send you away from your country, with
out a probable cause. Trial should be done publicly. And people who try you shou
ld not be influenced by others.

Article 11 :
You are considered innocent until proven guilty. You have the right to defend yo
urself. No one is allowed to punish you if you have not done something wrong.
Article 12 :
You have the right to ask for help if someone is threatening you, you name, trie
s to enter your house, opens your letters, or bothers you and your family.
Article 13 :
You have the right to move about in the country. Also to leave the country and b
e allowed entrance back.
Article 14 :
If someone harms you, you have the right to go to another country and ask for pr
otection. You lose this right if you have killed someone and if you do not respe
ct this other countryâ s laws.
Article 15 :
No one is allowed to prevent you from belonging to another country.
Article 16 :
As soon as a person is legalized to get marry, he or she has the right to marry
and have a family. Nobody should be forced into marriage. The government of your
country should protect your family and its members.
Article 17 :
You have the right to own things and no one is allowed to take them away from yo
u.
Article 18 :
You have the right to believe in your own religion and speak freely of it.
Article 19 :
You have the right to freedom of speech and opinion, and no one is allowed to fo
rbid you from it.
Article 20 :
You have the right to create peaceful meetings and to attend to meetings in a pe
aceful way. No one is allowed to force you into being in one of their groups, or
meetings.
Article 21 :
Everyone has the right to take part in your countryâ s political affairs in either jo
ining the government or voting for someone to join the government.
Article 22 :
Everyone, as a member of society, is entitled to make the most of all the advant
ages like culture, work, social, and welfare, which are offered to everyone.
Article 23 :
You have the right to work, to choose your work, and to get a salary. If a man o
r woman work at the same job, they have the right to earn the same amount.

Article 24 :
Everyone has the right to rest and be allowed some paid holidays.
Article 25 :
Everyone has the right to an adequate standard of living. You have the right to
receive whatever you family needs so that
-they do not fall ill
-do not go hungry
-have clothes and a house
And are helped if you,
-are out of work
-are ill
-you are old
-your wife or husband are dead
Motherhood and childhood are entitled to be given special care and assistance.
Article 26 :
Everyone has the right to an education. You should be able to learn a profession
and continue learning as much as you would like. You are allowed to develop you
r talents with other students, whatever their race, religion, or country they ma
y be. Your parents are allowed to decide what you do and do not learn in school.
Article 27 :
Everyone has the right to freely participate in your communityâ s arts and sciences.
Your work, either arts or sciences, should be protected from plagiarism and you
should be able to benefit from them.
Article 28 :
Your rights should be protected in an â orderâ that should be local and worldwide.
Article 29 :
Everyone has a duty in their community. The law should allow human rights. It sh
ould allow everyone to be respected and to respect others.
Article 30 :
Nothing in this declaration may be interpreted as to imply for any state, group,
or person, to engage in any activity that goes against any of the rights set to
wards everyone.
In any part of the world, no society or human being, is allowed
to destroy any right just described. No group or person has any right to engage
in any activity or to perform any act that may disrupt the order of this declara
tion.
The U.S Constitution.
The constitution of the united states is such a remarkable docum
ent. It was one of the first written constitutions in modern history. The framer
s wanted to create a plan for a strong central government that would bring unity
to the country, and preserve the ideas of the declaration of independence. Thi
s document created a representative legislature, the office of presidency, a sys
tem of courts, and a process for adding new amendments to the constitution. For
more than 200 years, this constitution has guided the nation.
The United States of America is one of the oldest democracies in
the world. Its Constitution was written in the 18th century. The Constitution o
f the US has been used as a role model for many of the countries around the worl
d. The Supreme Court frequently uses the Constitution for its needs of the chang
ing social, political and economic conditions of the United States. However, the
basic written constitution remains untouched since it sprung up.
The total word count of the US Constitution is 4,440 and it is t
he shortest constitution of any country in the world.
Some of the states have shown interest in adding some more artic
les to this Constitution to make sure that its power is not abused or misinterpr
eted, and to make sure that the government is beneficial for all citizens, even
those who live in other countries.
Both branches of Congress: the Senate, to represent the states;
and the House, to represent more of the â peopleâ sâ will, have agreed by a 2 out of 3
ty that these articles will be proposed to various state legislatures as Amendme
nts to the United States Constitution. They will become legal when they are vote
d by 3 out of 4 state legislatures, and will then they will become part of the C
onstitution.
There are twenty-seven amendments in the constitution, nut the t
en major ones in the constitution that are supposed to be followed in our overal
l daily lives are:
Amendment 1 :
There will be no established "state religion," and there will be no law preventi
ng freedom of religion. The citizens will have the freedom to speak their minds,
to meet together, and to bring their complaints before the government. The pres
s will also have the freedom to say what they want without government interferen
ce.
Amendment 2 :
Because the security of the nation depends on a well-armed populace, the people
will have the right to own and use guns.
Amendment 3 :
The army cannot force citizens to keep soldiers in their houses against their wi
ll, not even in time of war.
Amendment 4 :
The government will not be able to search or take away anyone's documents or pro
perty without a very good reason or a search warrant describing the place to be
searched and the items to be taken away.
Amendment 5 :
Nobody can be held for committing a capital offense or felony unless they have b
een indicted, except in cases relating to the military in wartime or when the pu
blic is in danger. Nobody can be tried twice for the same crime, or be forced to
testify against themselves, or have their life, liberty, or property taken away
without due process of law, or have their private property be taken away for pu
blic use without receiving adequate compensation.
Amendment 6 :
Whenever someone is being tried for a crime, they will have a speedy trial by an
impartial jury made of people from the state and district where the crime was c
ommitted. They will be informed of the charges against them and will be confront
ed with the people who are testifying against them. They will also have the righ
t to be defended by a lawyer.
Amendment 7 :
Whenever a civil case is heard in a federal court where the amount in question i
s over $20, the case will be heard by a jury, and can only be heard one time.
Amendment 8 :
There will not be any extraordinarily large fines or any cruel and unusual punis
hments for the guilty, or any excessive amount posted for bail.
Amendment 9 :
Just because certain rights are identified in these Amendments doesn't mean ther
e aren't others that are still just as important.
Amendment 10 :
Any power that has not been given to the federal government by the Constitution
will be given to the state governments, or the people.
And this is why the U.S. Constitution is one of the most influen
tial legal documents that has ever existed. Since its actual creation, about two
hundred years ago, over one hundred countries around the world have used it as
a model for their own constitution, weighing out all twenty-seven amendments and
their actual wording.

The Comparison Between The Two Documents.

The U.S. Constitution and the Unite Declaration of Human Rights
are two very important documents that dedicate themselves to the safety, securi
ty, and over-all well being of two very different groups of people. The Bill of
Rights mostly just states ten of the twenty-seven amendments of the us constitu
tion, and the UN Declaration of Human Rights was made for all of the people gove
rned two nations included in the united nations: the separate and independent na
tions.
The major difference in both these documents is not the wording,
or what it says, but to who the documents apply, and speak to. The UN Declarat
ion of Human Rights uses much more intense terms because it is supposed to reach
out to a wide variety of people, because it speaks for the rights of over milli
ons of people worldwide. And these laws apply to all despite race, color, ethnic
and religious backgrounds.
The Bill of Rights first amendment could be one of the most impo
rtant one in the constitution. It covers everything that has to do with freedom:
freedom to assemble, freedom of speech, freedom to choose religion, and freedom
of the press. And in the Declaration of Human Rights it speaks of the same, but
they divide it into three separate but important articles: numbers eighteen thr
ough twenty.
The UN Declaration of Human Rights also discusses topics like ec
onomic and financial interests, while the Bill of Rights only mentions something
small about the finances of the country.
The Bill of Rights briefly talks about how a criminal cannot be
given an excessive amount for bail for a criminal trial, while the Declaration o
f Human Rights does not, but it does have many separate articles discussing issu
es such as the economy and finances, such as social security, unemployment, the
standard of living, vacation time, unions, and more sorts describing a persons l
ife.
The UN Declaration of Human Rights talks about insuring that no
person should be discriminated against race, gender, religion, and ethnic backgr
ound. Even though the first amendment of the Bill of Rights discusses freedom to
choose religion, the un of human rights sets out to make sure there is no discr
imination whatsoever. Because the bill of rights does not discuss about race or
gender for possible discrimination.
Although the UN Declaration of Human Rights was brought up over
one hundred and fifty years after the us constitution came up , the wording and
phrasing of both documents, was mainly used to bring out the intention for the c
ountyâ s overall well being.
Both these documents help to preserve peace and ensure domestic
and international tranquility among all its individuals. There are many similari
ties in both these documents because as Iâ ve read, the creators of the UN Declaratio
n of Human Rights used a copy of the U.S. Constitution as a reference to create
their document