Dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1998
Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. Thomas Jefferson. Much earlier.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, resolution adopted unanimously in December 1948 by the General Assembly of the United Nations. The objective of the 30-article declaration is to promote and encourage respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. 

The declaration proclaims the personal, civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights of humans, which are limited only by recognition for the rights and freedoms of others and the requirements of morality, public order, and general welfare. Among the rights cited by the declaration are the rights to life, liberty, and security of person; to freedom from arbitrary arrest; to a fair trial; to be presumed innocent until proved guilty; to freedom from interference with the privacy of one's home and correspondence; to freedom of movement and residence; to asylum, nationality, and ownership of property; to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, opinion, and expression; to association, peaceful assembly, and participation in government; to social security, work, rest, and a standard of living adequate for health and well-being; to education; and to participation in the social life of one's community. (After Microsoft Encarta 1996.)

The United Nations Postal Administration commemorated the 25th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1973 (the FDC above, left). Several sets of stamps, commemorating the Declaration, were issued between 1989 and 1993. These issues reproduced works of art from different periods and of different artists. Each stamp has an attached label, with an article of the Declaration written on it. The labels have texts written in three languages. The stamps above, issued by the Vienna Headquarter in 1990, reproduce the painting "Young Man greeted by a Woman writing a Poem" by the Japanese painter Suzuki Harunobu". The English text: "Article 12. No one shall be subjected to the arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the low against such interference or attacks". The 50th Anniversary United Nation's and Italy's issues were painted by Folon. For historical reasons I show also the sheet dedicated to the Bicentennial of the French Revolution and the Declaration of Human Rights.