It was past midnight December 10, 1948, in the General Assembly Hall of the United Nations, in the Palais de Chaillot, place du Trocadero in Paris. The President 's tired voice pattered in the microphone: "52 in favor, none against, 8 abstentions. Adopted "(the U.N. had only 60 members then). The rasping of his gavel was covered by a burst of applause, mainly in the public and press areas. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) had just been approved.
Except for the United States and a few other Western countries, junior diplomats occupied the seats assigned to their countries. Indeed, due to the late hour and the starting week-end, top delegates had already left the city. Actually, many among them considered the Declaration as a mere idealistic fancy destined to rejoin numerous other United Nations’ resolutions on the shelves of impractical figments of idealistic imaginations.
As a consequence, I, a mere "secretary" on the official list of delegates, cast the affirmative vote for Iran. I dutifully remained in my seat, listening to a spate of congratulatory speeches and a few explanations of vote by the "abstaining" representatives of Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the Soviet Bloc.
>>>Person | About | Day |
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نسرین ستوده: زندانی روز | Dec 04 | |
Saeed Malekpour: Prisoner of the day | Lawyer says death sentence suspended | Dec 03 |
Majid Tavakoli: Prisoner of the day | Iterview with mother | Dec 02 |
احسان نراقی: جامعه شناس و نویسنده ۱۳۰۵-۱۳۹۱ | Dec 02 | |
Nasrin Sotoudeh: Prisoner of the day | 46 days on hunger strike | Dec 01 |
Nasrin Sotoudeh: Graffiti | In Barcelona | Nov 30 |
گوهر عشقی: مادر ستار بهشتی | Nov 30 | |
Abdollah Momeni: Prisoner of the day | Activist denied leave and family visits for 1.5 years | Nov 30 |
محمد کلالی: یکی از حمله کنندگان به سفارت ایران در برلین | Nov 29 | |
Habibollah Golparipour: Prisoner of the day | Kurdish Activist on Death Row | Nov 28 |