University of São Paulo Law School, Ribeirão Preto

The Law School of Ribeirão Preto (FDRP) will host until next Tuesday, October 9^th, the “USP Diversidade in the 70^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”, in the Block D stairs.

It is a travelling exhibition organized by the USP Diversidade Program, in integration with USP Comunidade, from the Culture and University Extension Pro-Rectory, with the continuous goal of invigorating its commitment to human rights, dignity and respect to diversity.

The exhibition is made up of 16 panels containing the 30 Universal Declaration of Human Rights articles and is part of a campaign aiming to promote actions throughout the entire University to strengthen respect of human rights and diversity, and through teaching and education it can also contribute to university students’ formation as a transforming agent in contemporary thinking and as a future public policy proponent. This action, as well as revealing and strengthening USP’s social responsibility commitment, can also provide more visibility to good practices in the academia.

Each panel is 1,60m tall and shows an article from the Declaration in large print. The text is accompanied of 30 different artistic compositions, by designer Victor Daibert, a student at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism (FAU), inspired by watercolor paintings in vibrant hues.

The idea was to present, through different keywords, colors and geometrical patterns, the infinite possibilities for visual representation, as a parallel with diversity in people, appearances, beliefs and ideas in society. The writing aims to bring attention to each article’s theme and show how current and necessary this document still is to this day, because despite it being widely disseminated, many people do not read it or do not know its contents.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights outlines basic human rights and was incorporated by the United Nations on December 10^th, 1948.

After being shocked by World War II barbarities and with the intention of building a new world on new ideological foundations, the leaders of the victorious nations that emerged in the post-war period, led by the United States and the Soviet Union established, at the Yalta Conference, in Russia, in 1945, the foundations for future world peace, which should be defined by the areas of influence of each nation and, and the creation of a new multilateral organization that could promote negotiation on international conflict, to avoid wars and promote peace and democracy and strengthen Human Rights.

In this context, a document gathering basic premises and agreements was a necessary starting point for this kind of understanding. Although it is not a legally binding document, it serves as a basis for two subsequent UN treaties that are: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the most translated document in the world.