ARTICLE 1... All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Dignified stars

Soaring through infinity

Autonomous born

Individuals

Hands linked

in freedom

 

 

ARTICLE 2... Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Looking through

hate’s glasses
He shatters the lenses
So he can see again
Don’t discriminate

ARTICLE 3... Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Every breath is life

Every step is freedom

Every dream is hope

I breathe

I dream

I live

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ARTICLE 4... No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

I am owned by silence

possessed by others

slavery denied

in the highest places

I will rise up

and be free!

ARTICLE 5... No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Torturer's touch broken

Cattleprod short circuits

Waterboarder drowns

Medicos drug themselves

Return to humanity

 

ARTICLE 6... Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Whose law

beckons

Who decrees

man free

Only man

Herself

can make

freedom a law

ARTICLE 7... All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

In our eyes

all are equal

In this law’s eyes

all are equal

Who protects the law

that protects us?

 

ARTICLE 8... Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

Fair courts

Fair treatment

What about

Missing sons

Violated daughters

Justice?

Demand our rights

ARTICLE 9... No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Unshackle my hands

I have done nothing

Deliver me to justice

Release me

You cannot arrest a Soul

 

ARTICLE 10... Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

A magistrate sits

A trial begins

A witness attributes

A suspect withers

A judge ponders

A ruling of tolerance

An apostle of justice smiles

ARTICLE 11... (1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defense.  (2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

Unbind my hands

Remove sinner

from my name

until you prove

me guilty

I am innocent

in the blind eyes

of justice

ARTICLE 12... No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honor and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

I am

my own

person

Do not

cast harm

on my goodness

Tar me with infamy

intrude

upon my family

I am

my own

person

This is

my right

#HumanRights ARTICLE 13... (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state. (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country. 

We soar

Unfettered

By wings

Passports

Or obligation

A sovereignty

Of motion

Free beings

Unregulated

By fences

Boundaries

And time.

HumanRights ARTICLE 14... (1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution. (2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

A pilgrimage

of defiance

facing torture

and mortality

friends turned

the darkness closer

I request sanctuary

asylum and friend

HumanRights ARTICLE 15...  The right to a nationality. We all have the right to belong to a country.

No one

walks alone

We are

A family

A town

A state

A country

A nation sacred

Built With

Our hands

from reluctant soil

We are!

#HumanRights ARTICLE 16... (1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. (2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses. (3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

 

May I propose

Said he

If I can betroth

Said she

We will be one

Said he

We will be equal

Said she

You are mine

Said he

We are ours

Said she

 

#HumanRights ARTICLE 17... (1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

 

It was a gift

she earned

never to be

taken away

honor

nobility

and a love

she shared

with all.

 

ARTICLE 18... Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

She sings

of stars of David,

crescent moons

and crucifixes

proclaiming

the right

to believe

and dream.

Human Rights ARTICLE 19... Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Thoughts mounted
In bullet-proof skin
Indestructible ideas
Exchanged
Freedom more
Than words.

Human Rights ARTICLE 20... (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. (2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

A hand once shackled

Raises to vote

A voice once censored

Speaks out

In a new democracy

A government formed

The will of the people

Transcends  

Human Rights ARTICLE 22... Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

Freedom

To paint

My personality

Maintain

My dignity

Contribute

To a creative

Society

This is true

Social Security

 

ARTICLE 23... (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection. (4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

All work is holy
When fingers,
mind and spirit
Combine
In divine endeavor
Creating beauty
And well being

ARTICLE 26... (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace. (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

She pressed the book

Into my hands

Inspiring me to read

I hungered to learn

Forevermore

ARTICLE 27... (1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits. (2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

 

Admiration
Of creation
Appreciation
Of one’s joys
And those
Of friends
Protected
By universal
Acclamation

© 2009 lgjaffe