Andorra · 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Allgemeine Erklärung der Menschenrechte)

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Allgemeine Erklärung der Menschenrechte) was adopted on 10 December 1948 by the General Assembly of the United Nations in Paris. Its creation was shaped by the Second World War, the Holocaust and other state-organized crimes. The United Nations sought to formulate fundamental rights that would belong to every person regardless of origin, nationality, gender, religion or political conviction.

Representatives of different states and legal traditions were involved in its drafting. The relevant UN Human Rights Commission (UN-Menschenrechtskommission) was chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, the widow of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The aim was not to create an exclusively Western or national catalogue of rights, but a common standard that could be understood internationally.

The Declaration encompasses political and civil rights as well as economic, social and cultural rights. These include, among others, the right to life and personal liberty, the prohibition of slavery and torture, equality before the law, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and rights to education, work and social security. The Declaration is not itself a treaty under international law and therefore does not directly establish the same binding obligations as a ratified convention. However, it influenced numerous constitutions and subsequent international treaties, including the European Convention on Human Rights (Europäische Menschenrechtskonvention) and the two United Nations human rights covenants (Menschenrechtspakte der Vereinten Nationen).

For Andorra, the subject also has a bearing on state policy. In 1993, the country adopted a democratic constitution, became a member of the United Nations in the same year and later joined the Council of Europe. The Andorran Constitution contains its own catalogue of fundamental rights and public freedoms.

By choosing this commemorative occasion, Andorra thus places itself within an international culture of remembrance: The anniversary was used worldwide to recall the claim of universal rights and the continuing task of protecting them through legal and political means. The coin issue connects this worldwide frame of reference with Andorra’s own state and constitutional development.