The speaker evaluates the effectiveness of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights fifty years after its inception. On the positive side, he notes the pervasiveness of the right to democracy at the end of the twentieth century. He also highlights some of the international covenants and conventions that have been enacted since the inception of the Universal Declaration to enforce the rights it lays out, as well as examples of national legislation it has inspired, such as the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Yet, although some of the Universal Declaration's provisions have flourished, others have withered. In some cases, this is due to the lack of any international enforcement mechanism. The creation of the Universal Declaration coincided with the end of the Nazi war criminal prosecutions at Nuremberg, and no permanent international criminal court has been created to carry on Nuoemberg's work. Lack of will has compromised the application of the Universal Declaration in two key areas of human fights: the right to be free from the incitement to discrimination, and the right to seek asylum. Ha notes, in particular, that Canada has been deficient in upholding these rights. While disagreeing on principle with ranking the rights protected by the Universal Declaration, be emphasizes bow critical the right to be free from the incitement to discrimination and the right to seek asylum are for preserving the most fundamental right of all, the right to life. In conclusion, the promise of the Universal Declaration will only be fulfilled if all its provisions are respected and upheld. L'auteur fait l'evaluation de l'efficacite de la Declaration universelle des droits de l'homme, cinquante ans apres son adoption, n remarque d'abord la forte influence exercee par le principe des droits democratiques en cette fin de vingtieme siecle, en particulier a travers l'adoption de conventions et d'accords internationaux mettant en application les droits d'abord formules dans la Declaration universelle, ainsi que de lois nationales s'en inspirant, notamment la Charte canadienne des droits et libertes. Pourtant, pendant que certaines dispositions de la Declaration universelle rencontraient un indeniable succes, d'autres ont fait face a des echecs, dus dans plusieurs cas a l'absence de mecanisme international de mise en oeuvre. Ainsi, alors que l'adoption de la Declaration universelle coincidait avec la conclusion du proces des criminels de guerre nazis a Nuremberg, aucune cour criminelle internationale n'a jusqu'a maintenant ete etablie pour poursuivre le travail qui y avait ete entrepris.
