The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and UUSC's Work Responding to Humanitarian Crises

All people have the right to life, liberty and security of person.
_{— Article 3, Universal Declaration of Human Rights}

Our most basic human right is the right to live, and to do so with liberty and safety. Sadly, this right is often the first casualty of natural disasters and wars.

Women in Darfur return from collecting firewood.

Fatima is a 30-year-old mother in Darfur, Sudan. She is living in an internally-displaced camp with thousands of other people who have fled their homes because of the war that has been raging now for six years. Fatima does not have enough money to buy the firewood that she needs to cook for her family, so she must leave the camp and walk many miles to search for it.

Fatima knows that outside the camp, she is at risk of violence and rape by armed militia. African Union forces used to provide armed guards to accompany women collecting firewood, but the funds for these patrols have run out. Hoping there is safety in numbers, Fatima and her 13-year-old daughter leave the camp with a large group of women to search for firewood. As the women are returning, a crowd of men, some in army uniforms, begin to attack the women with their guns. The women fear that the men will rape them.

In the confusion, Fatima's daughter has hidden behind some rocks. Fatima sees her daughter and wonders whether to tell her to run, or try to stay hidden. Could Fatima distract the men while her daughter runs away?

Everyone is at risk during humanitarian crises. But the kinds of risk people face vary, depending on who they are. Like Fatima and her daughter in Darfur, many women are vulnerable in particular ways during natural disasters and wars, and therefore need particular kinds of support and protection.

In every humanitarian crisis, certain groups are more at-risk and less able to access relief and recovery because of their race, gender, class, religion, political beliefs, ethnicity, or immigration status. After the 2004 tsunami, undocumented Burmese migrants in Thailand were denied assistance by the Thai Red Cross and government. Following Hurricane Katrina on the U.S. Gulf Coast, FEMA officials did not visit majority-African American towns in Plaquemines Parish in Louisiana until five months after the storm. Who you are determines how—and even whether—you can get protection, relief and assistance, and support to rebuild your life.

We all have the right to protection, relief, and help to recover. UUSC realizes that people's rights are not defended equally in times of natural disaster and war. UUSC's Rights in Humanitarian Crises Program identifies and supports people whose rights to protection, relief, and recovery are jeopardized because of who they are.

• Hear from UUSC's partners around the world who are working to protect and promote people's rights in times of crisis.


• Test your understanding of how different people are affected differently, and see how UUSC takes action to protect and promote people's rights in times of natural disaster and war.


• Read about UUSC's unique work in Northern Uganda and discover how hopeful communities there are joining together to return home after many years of war.


• View the handout "Rights in Humanitarian Crises — Listen. Reflect. Act." to learn how ordinary people are taking action to defend human rights.