Article 10 - The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (English version)

This piece is part of a collection of 30 xylographs, produced by the multimedia artist Otávio Roth (1952-1993), that graphically express the content of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). The series took two years to reach completion, with each piece printed on handmade paper created by the artist himself. Driven by the desire to democratize access to the Charter, Otávio Roth synthesized its message in graphic pieces that facilitate the understanding and memorization of the Charter’s content.

Roth was the first living artist invited to exhibit at the United Nations. His prints have been on permanent display at UN headquarters in New York, Geneva and Vienna since 1981. In addition to the English series, the artist produced other series in Japanese, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian and Danish, using techniques as diverse as crayon, watercolor and pulp painting.

About Article 10
The right to a fair trial is the core of Article 10, which seeks to prevent a repetition of the Nazism’s atrocities, when judges and courts acted on behalf of the regime’s objectives instead of watching over the interests and protection of the population. Some guarantees of a fair trial, including the right to the presumption of innocence, can also be found in Articles 6, 7, 8 and 11 of the Declaration.