What are the human rights issues facing the world today?

Learn about the history of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948. This video explains the history, purpose, preamble, and all 30 articles of the UDHR, which established a universal human rights standard for people worldwide.

What are the universal human rights?

This video outlines what basic human rights are, who gets to pick them, who enforces them, and how. The basic idea of human rights states that each of us is entitled to the same basic rights and freedoms, no matter who we are or where we are born....

Hear Eleanor Roosevelt speak about human rights

On International Human Rights Day, Roosevelt addressed a TV audience to explain the importance of the Declaration of Human Rights. She discusses her work and plans to spread information about the United Nations' efforts.

Interactive charts on human rights around the world

This website provides comprehensive data visualizations tracking human rights around the globe. While human rights have become much more protected, this varies between countries. Users can find information on how the protection of human rights has...

Roosevelt chaired more than 3,000 hours of debate to produce the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Roosevelt led the drafting committee for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, guiding representatives from 18 nations through debate on conflicting ideas about rights, government, and citizenship. The General Assembly unanimously adopted the final document in December 1948.

HRW explores women’s rights around the world

Human Rights Watch’s page documents human rights violations around the world affecting women and girls. The international women’s rights movement has made great strides over many years, but women and girls around the world continue to face...

Experts suggest where the UN should be reformed

In 2020, as the United Nations marked its 75th anniversary, the Council on Foreign Relations' Council of Councils published a collection of expert essays proposing reforms to enhance the UN's relevance. This collection of essays is a thought-provoking look at the UN's future.

A global history of women's rights, in 3 minutes

This video presents a succinct overview of the history of women's rights. As a global community, we have witnessed widespread suffrage campaigns, the rise of #MeToo, and increasing digital activism. Noteworthy women, grassroots movements, and...

The UN's primary goal is to promote peace and cooperation

The UN's self-proclaimed mission is to promote peace, protect human rights, and tackle global challenges like poverty and climate change. The About Us page on the UN's website is a good entry point to understand how this international organization works and its impact in today's world.

A majority in surveyed countries approve of the UN

A 2024 Pew Research Center survey found that a median of 58% across 35 countries viewed the UN favorably, while 31% held unfavorable views. Notably, younger adults tended to view the UN more positively than older generations. The report offers a detailed, country-by-country analysis of global perceptions of the UN.

Understanding how the commodification of water has contributed to global water scarcity

In 2010, the UN General Assembly recognized access to water and sanitation as a basic human right, noting that an estimated 884 million people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water. The treatment of water as a commodity and reserves as property has contributed to unequal access and competition over its use, which is expected to intensify due to climate change.

Debating the Constitution today

The Constitution continues to shape our political and social life today. If you want to understand how today’s political debates connect to the Constitution, check out this podcast from the National Constitution Center. The weekly program features experts from diverse perspectives and explores how constitutional principles shape modern issues.

A summary of human rights violations in North Korea

North Korea severely restricts the rights of its citizens. Read Amnesty International’s summary of the current state of human rights in North Korea. Malnutrition was widespread in North Korea in 2022—more than 40% of the population required...

The formation of the UN elevated the US on the world stage

This podcast episode of "To the Best of My Ability" from the National WWII Museum goes behind the scenes of the United Nations' founding from the American perspective. It explores how FDR's vision for global peace took shape, how Truman carried it forward, and how Eleanor Roosevelt helped define human rights—set against the backdrop of wartime diplomacy, Cold War tensions, and the San Francisco Conference, where the UN Charter was signed.

How constitutional AI helps cultivate good human values in Anthropic's AI tools

By incorporating elements from documents such as the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights into a framework against which it can check its outputs, Anthropic hopes the approach will help Claude operate with good human values and behaviors beyond what human-driven training alone can provide.

The US Constitution is widely regarded as the longest-standing written national constitution still in force—see how it has influenced rights worldwide.

This interactive tool from the National Constitution Center allows you to compare constitutional rights globally, highlighting which countries have adopted protections similar to those in the US Constitution—and how shared principles manifest in different legal forms around the world.

Tracing the history of the philosophy of human extinction

Global catastrophe is at the center of much contemporary debate over climate, war, science, technology, and more, and our period is marked by a lurking sense everything we know—including the human species—could end overnight. It wasn't always...

Amnesty International’s fight for women’s rights

Amnesty International’s “Women’s Rights” page looks at the history of women’s rights, what women’s rights actually are, and what Amnesty is doing to protect women and girls. Women and girls still face discrimination on the basis of sex...

The United Nations was founded in San Francisco in 1945.

The UN’s interactive site analyzing the world’s population

The 2022 revision of World Population Prospects contains the official population estimates and projections from the United Nations. It presents population estimates from 1950 to present for 237 countries or areas around the world. The data consider...

Four global trends in shifting demographics

This UN summary outlines four global trends in shifting demographics. The world’s population is expected to peak by the end of the century as fertility rates continue to decline. Between now and 2050, the global population is projected to become...

See a visual record of how Roosevelt helped build the United Nations

When President Truman appointed Eleanor Roosevelt to the first US delegation to the UN in 1946, her male colleagues assigned her to a minor committee, assuming she would play a minor role. In the end, she became one of the delegation's most effective negotiators—and chaired the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Since World War II, formal declarations of war and peace treaties have become increasingly rare, replaced by cease-fires, authorizations of force, and "special military operations."

Nuclear weapons in WWII

This 14-minute interactive documentary broaches the subject of the human cost of nuclear warfare. Comparing the number of deaths during World War II with the projected deaths of a nuclear exchange, the video can be paused to delve deeper into individual statistics, historical tidbits, and more data that shows the terrible price humanity would pay.

The world reached historic levels of democracy under the rules-based order, though that trend has reversed

The share of democracies worldwide grew dramatically from the mid-20th century, reaching an all-time high in the early 2010s. Since then, the trend has reversed, with an increasing number of countries experiencing democratic backsliding.

10 ways that Saudi Arabia violates human rights

This article outlines the ways Saudi Arabia is violating human rights. Saudi Arabia is among the world’s top executioners, employing torture both while in police custody and as a punishment following unfair trials. In addition, Saudi Arabian...

Data visualizations showing population growth around the world

This page presents data, charts, and analysis on changes in population growth around the world. Over the last few centuries, the human population has gone through an extraordinary change. In 1800, there were 1 billion people; today, there are more...

How global conditions have improved over 200 years

In an era of 24-hour news, it can feel as if the world is on a perpetual downward spiral. This set of visualizations zoom out, and show how global living conditions have improved in recent centuries. The percentage of people living in extreme...

Four Cold War hawks warn: Nuclear weapons still threaten the world

Despite the Cold War's end, the US and Russia still hold 95% of the world's nuclear weapons—many on hair-trigger alert. In this 2010 documentary, top former officials urge urgent action to reduce and eliminate the threat.

The 1951 Refugee Convention established international refugee rights and state obligations amid mass World War II displacement

The international treaty defines refugee status and outlines refugees' entitled rights while establishing state obligations to protect them. The UNHCR explains the convention's significance in creating the legal framework governing refugee protection worldwide.

Read the WEF’s Global Risks Report for 2025

The Global Risks Report is the World Economic Forum’s annual assessment of the most pressing threats facing the world. The 2025 edition highlights declining global optimism, deepening geopolitical and economic tensions, and rising social fragmentation across societies.

How failures at Versailles Conference led to more racial inequality

Suffering a pandemic and the aftermath of a war that killed 50 million, the world in 1920 faced a turning point as it negotiated a new political order. As today, the key issue was racial inequality.

193 nations are members of the United Nations

The UN's Member States webpage provides an alphabetical list of all 193 member countries, along with the exact dates they were admitted. Take a look at how the UN has expanded over time and understand each nation's place in the global organization.

Mapping how human population has grown throughout history

It took 200,000 years for our human population to reach 1 billion—and only 200 years to reach 7 billion. When will our global population peak? And how can we minimize our impact on Earth's resources, even as we approach 11 billion?

Global support for free speech and press freedom has declined since 2019

A 2025 Pew Research survey found that the share of people worldwide who consider free speech and press freedom important has declined over the past several years, even though majorities in most countries still say these rights matter.

A look behind the scenes of the UN General Assembly

This behind-the-scenes look at the 2015 UN General Assembly offers a unique perspective on what it takes to run one of the world’s most complicated and important diplomatic events. Following four staffers—including a youth advocate and an interpreter—the video captures the energy, pressure, and coordination behind the scenes.

Climate science 101: climate change, its impacts, and potential solutions

How do we know that this warming is happening and that it’s caused by humans? How strong is the evidence? What risks can we expect and what can we do about them?

1 in 4 people around the world don't have access to clean water

Poor water sanitation puts people at risk of acquiring this diarrheal infection. Cholera infections are on the rise due to extreme weather events and conflict. In recent years there have been cholera outbreaks in locations that hadn't seen the disease in many years, including Haiti.

How World War II affects your wallet today

The world's deadliest conflict also impacted social programs extensively, including ways that still affect your money today. World War II is responsible for the practice of employers withholding tax payments and sponsoring health insurance, as well as the norm of providing school lunches for the nation's schoolchildren. Watch this brief video to learn more.

The debate on why humans are conscious—and what that means

Understanding what consciousness is, and why and how it evolved, is perhaps the greatest mystery known to science. Watch interviews with the world's leading experts on what it is and whether we'll ever know.

Defining the use of 'Third World' in geopolitics

The term "Third World" is mostly out of use today for its limiting connotations, but in light of a reordering of geopolitical alliances amid the Ukraine war, historians are reevaluating the term's usefulness. Read the history of the term starting from the 1950s, and learn what several experts claim about its contemporary efficacy.

An interactive overview of the human toll of the Yemen conflict

The conflict in Yemen shows no signs of stopping. Civilians continue to suffer from military hostilities and human rights violations. More than 20,000 civilians have been killed and injured by the fighting since March 2015, according to the Office...

Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1941 speech framed World War II as a global fight for universal rights

Eleven months before the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt outlined four fundamental freedoms that, in his words, people "everywhere in the world" ought to enjoy—speech, worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.

Prehistoric to present day Ukraine

Recognizing the abundance of information available on the current war between Ukraine and Russia, this video focuses on the history of the region. Encapsulating Ukraine's background, the viewer will gain a better grasp of how the modern state arose from a quilt of different ethnicities, noteworthy conflicts between various groups, and more.

Key milestones in the history of the World Health Organization

The World Health Organization, a UN agency founded in 1948, was first proposed at the 1945 UN Conference to coordinate global health efforts. This interactive timeline marks the WHO’s 75th anniversary with major public health milestones.

How humans are engineering the planet

One fact about our time is becoming increasingly well-known. No matter how far you travel, no matter in which direction you point, there is nowhere on Earth that remains free from the traces of human activity.

The world rapidly decolonized after World War II, with roughly a hundred new countries emerging between 1945 and 1989.

Decolonization isn't complete, as nearly 2 million people were living in UN-designated non-self-governing territories as of 2023.

7 experts debate China's role in the future of the rules-based international order

This interactive feature showcases opposing arguments—from scholars who view China as a major threat to the order, to Chinese analyst Wu Xinbo's argument that China will shape the order's evolution rather than destroy it.

The UN’s 1990s peacekeeping mission in Rwanda failed to prevent a genocide

During a 100-day period in 1994, nearly 1 million Tutsi and moderate Hutu civilians were murdered, a tragedy that exemplified the limitations of the UN’s ability to protect populations from mass killing.

There are 6 primary governing bodies at the UN

The United Nations is structured around six main bodies: the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice, and Secretariat. Each plays a distinct role in promoting peace, justice, and cooperation worldwide.