Article 12 - 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 12
The concept of privacy, enshrined in Article 12, has become more and more central in our lives with increased data collection by governments and companies. Privacy is often seen as a “gateway” that reinforces other rights, online and offline, including the right to equality and non-discrimination and to freedom of expression and assembly. Privacy is also a value in and of itself, essential for personality development and the protection of human dignity, one of the UDHR’s main themes: it allows us to protect ourselves against unauthorized interference in our lives and to determine how we want to interact with the world. Privacy helps us establish boundaries to limit who has access to our bodies, places and things, as well as to our communications and information.