News Service from House Harris

EUR: Universal Declaration of Human Rights to head into space

PARIS, Nov 7 AFP - The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is to be hoisted to the International Space Station to mark the 60th anniversary of the document's adoption by the UN, the European Space Agency (ESA) said today.

It will be taken aloft, if all goes well, on November 14 by a US space shuttle and then be stored permanently aboard ESA's science module, Columbus, which was moored to the ISS earlier this year.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United NationsGeneral Assembly on December 10 1948.

Its first article states: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."