Article 23 - 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 23
In 1941, the First Lady of the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt, said she believed that all workers should unite in a labor organization, because “the ideals of the organized labor movement are high ideals”. At the head of the Declaration’s drafting committee in 1946, she gave labor organizations an important role in the document to reflect her vision of how the world should develop. Together with workers’ representatives, Roosevelt advocated for the specific inclusion of the right to unionization and helped ensure that Article 23 mentioned the right of “everyone” to work, with equal pay for equal work, without discrimination.