Article 4 - 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 4
Article 4 is clear: no one has the right to enslave us, and we cannot enslave anyone. Great progress has been made since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and in the 150 years since entire economies were based on the ownership of human beings. Yet practices similar to slavery and human trafficking remain a reality of our times. In the words of British investigative journalist Ross Kemp, “There are more slaves today than there were at the height of the slave trade.”