The great promise

It has been 75 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in Paris. In response to the countless atrocities of the Second World War, the United Nations General Assembly agreed on 30 fundamental articles on December 10, 1948. The Declaration enshrines, among many other things, the right to life, liberty and security of person, the right to equality before the law, the right to asylum and freedom of expression. Preventing injustice and protecting freedoms by recognizing and respecting human rights – this is what the guide promises.

But how reliable is this promise? Why does it not always apply to all people in practice and why does the enforcement of rights so often fail, as a look at current wars and crises around the world shows? To what extent do an unfair education system, the gap between rich and poor or the unequal distribution of opportunities for people with and without a history of migration thwart the principles? These questions are still topical.

Over the past 35 years, CIVIS has nominated and honored a large number of outstanding contributions that demonstrate both: Moments of promises kept and empty promises. Moments when people could rely on the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration, and moments when this was not the case. The following compilation includes nominated and award-winning productions from radio, television, cinema and the Internet that are directly or indirectly dedicated to the topic.