In Your Hands

Eleanor Roosevelt

I am here in behalf of thirty-two national organizations representing millions of citizens -- of all faiths; of every complexion; in all parts of the United States. The devotion of so many Americans to human rights is symbolized by this booklet, IN YOUR HANDS. It is a guide to community action. It is a spontaneous and resounding answer to the United Nations’ call for world-wide, year-long observances of the Tenth Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home -- so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any map of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person: the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.

Thus we believe that the destiny of human rights is in the hands of all our citizens in all our communities. That is why we have called this guidebook IN YOUR HANDS. We shall do our utmost, in the coming months, to put it in the hands of individuals and groups across the land.

It is our hope that this book may inspire them to strengthen their relations with one another; to acquaint themselves with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; to discuss it with their neighbors; to examine their own practices in the light of the standard it has raised; and to improve these practices wherever improvement is needed. In so doing, all of us together can make a vital and enduring contribution to this Tenth Anniversary observance.

I now have the honor, as spokesman for the organization joined in this effort, to present to you and your colleagues in the Commission on Human Rights these 18 copies of IN YOUR HANDS, one for each commission member -- a token of our faith that, under your leadership, the communities of every country will bring human rights to full reality in the community of the world.

Eleanor Roosevelt at the presentation of "IN YOUR HANDS: A Guide for Community Action for the Tenth Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."

Thursday, March 27, 1958 10:00 a.m. United Nations, New York