[License-discuss] Thoughts on the subject of ethical licenses

[Michael Downey]

On Mon, Mar 9, 2020, at 12:41, Chris Travers wrote:
> There's no reason to
> think that all the signatories of the UDHR for example meant the same
> thing by each of their understandings.

Indeed; they did not. More than that, a fact often overlooked by amateur human rights activists is that the UDHR is not a multilateral legal instrument; it was not passed out of the UN Security Council. Rather, it's an aspirational framework for other bilateral treaties between individual member states, which are where those laws get enforced. (And there are many.) The Declaration set the stage for what's basically a hodgepodge of interpretations globally. For better or for worse, member states all have their own interpretations of the rights enumerated in UDHR.

Michael Downey
United Nations Foundation