Prince Zeid (m.1987), United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights since 2014, will be giving a Lady Margaret lecture, Universal Rights and Wrongs in Today's World, in the Yusuf Hamied Theatre at 5:30pm on Friday 24th November. 

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The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 was formulated because "ignorance and contempt" of human rights were "among the principal causes of the sufferings of humanity".   In this Lady Margaret lecture the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights will dwell on this explanation, as set out in the Cassin draft of what later became the Declaration's preamble.  At a time of heightened global anxiety and uncertainty today - when conflicts, terrorism, oppression, discrimination, deprivation, and populism appear to be ruining so many societies, he will ask whether "ignorance and contempt of human rights" is as good a description of our present world, as it was of the 1920s, 30s and 40s.  If the answer is yes, would it not be the case then, that the Declaration has failed?  The High Commissioner will assess the validity of this conclusion and indeed of the Declaration itself, together with the legal Human Rights instruments it gave rise to.  He will examine specific examples of human rights deficits, from Silicon Valley to the migrant detention centers in Libya, or the makeshift Rohingya camps in Cox Bazaar, and discuss how best to strengthen the respect for universal human rights.