This volume celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). In so doing, it offers a comprehensive and systematic treatment of the rights and duties contained in the UDHR, in the light of its history, the intentions of its drafters and the standard-setting activities and monitoring efforts which have grown out of its existence. Each article of the UDHR is treated in a separate chapter; each chapter is written by a different author, all scholars from, or associated with, the Nordic countries, and all active in human rights work, either academically or in the field. A consolidated biography completes the collection. The subtitle of this volume is "A Common Standard of Achievement", a phrase drawn from the Preamble of the UDHR. In many ways, this collection is intended to demonstrate that this phrase has, to a considerable extent, come true.