Article 15 - 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 15
On the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh, an elderly man revealed that he was hoping, when he died, to receive a death certificate to prove that he had existed. As a stateless person, he did not legally exist for the 35 years he had lived in Vietnam, being unable to own property, enroll his children in school, or even buy a motorcycle. A former refugee from Cambodia, he fell into legal limbo because since Cambodia had annulled his citizenship, he was not able to give up Cambodian nationality in order to obtain Vietnamese citizenship. Fortunately, in 2010, Vietnam granted citizenship to about 6,000 people in this situation. Most people in the world take for granted the right to nationality, recognized in Article 15 of the Declaration. But around the world, around 3.9 million people are officially without nationality. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimates that the true number could be three times higher. They suffer deeply and are relegated to a marginal life without hope, as are their children, condemning generations to statelessness.