The spread of human rights norms and conventions, and the extension and diffusion of international humanitarian law, were among the truly great achievements of the last century. The United Nations was at the center of that effort.
In 1948, conscious of the atrocities committed by the Nazis while the world looked away, the U.N. adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This is the embodiment and the proclamation of the human rights norm.
On par with the other great historical documents like the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the American Declaration of Independence, the Universal Declaration was the first international affirmation of the rights held in common by all.