Analysis · September 2026
UNSDG Dependency Map
Common Ground Dependency Map
JUST Capital Dependency Map
Doughnut Economics Dependency Map
Human Rights Dependency Map
How much does the Universal Declaration of Human Rights depend on shareholder democracy?
In December 1948 the United Nations General Assembly adopted thirty articles setting out the rights every person holds. Article language is the UN's own (un.org). We scored each article on one scale from 0 to 3. The score measures how far realising that right depends on owners voting their values to change what companies do, or what companies lobby for. For 16 of the thirty articles, shareholder democracy is necessary or pivotal. Four articles are framing provisions or state obligations that the shareholder lever does not reach, and we say so. These ratings are in beta. We are still refining the method, and we publish corrections based on feedback. Click any article for the rationale, the record of shareholder advocacy, and the citations.
0
Independent
4 articles
Not a shareholder lever; the right belongs to governments, courts, or households.
1
Helpful
10 articles
Owners voting their values help at the margin.
2
Necessary
10 articles
Owners voting their values remove an obstacle nothing else removes; others must also act.
3
Pivotal
6 articles
Owners voting their values can deliver most of the outcome.
Order
ArticleDependency on shareholder democracy
1
Article 1 Born free and equal in dignity
Independent
2
Article 2 Equal rights without discrimination
Necessary
3
Article 3 Life, liberty and security of person
Helpful
4
Article 4 No slavery, servitude, or slave trade
Pivotal
5
Article 5 No torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
Helpful
6
Article 6 Recognition as a person before the law
Helpful
7
Article 7 Equality before the law and equal protection
Necessary
8
Article 8 Right to an effective remedy by competent national tribunals
Necessary
9
Article 9 No arbitrary arrest, detention or exile
Necessary
10
Article 10 Right to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal
Helpful
11
Article 11 Presumption of innocence; no retroactive criminal law
Helpful
12
Article 12 No arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home, correspondence, honour or reputation
Pivotal
13
Article 13 Freedom of movement and residence; the right to leave and return to a country
Necessary
14
Article 14 Right to seek asylum from persecution
Necessary
15
Article 15 Right to a nationality; not to be arbitrarily deprived of it
Independent
16
Article 16 Right to marry and found a family; free and full consent; the family entitled to protection
Helpful
17
Article 17 Right to own property alone or in association; no arbitrary deprivation of property
Helpful
18
Article 18 Freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including to change and to manifest it
Necessary
19
Article 19 Freedom of opinion and expression; to seek, receive and impart information through any media
Necessary
20
Article 20 Freedom of peaceful assembly and association; no one compelled to belong to an association
Pivotal
21
Article 21 Right to take part in government; equal access to public service; the will of the people as the basis of the authority of government, expressed in periodic and genuine elections
Necessary
22
Article 22 Right to social security and to the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for dignity
Helpful
23
Article 23 Right to work, just remuneration, equal pay, and to form and join trade unions
Pivotal
24
Article 24 Right to rest and leisure, limitation of working hours, and periodic holidays with pay
Necessary
25
Article 25 Right to an adequate standard of living, security in sickness and old age, and special care for motherhood and childhood
Pivotal
26
Article 26 Right to education, free and compulsory at elementary level; parents' prior right to choose their children's education
Helpful
27
Article 27 Right to share in cultural life and in scientific advancement and its benefits; protection of authors' moral and material interests
Pivotal
28
Article 28 Entitlement to a social and international order in which these rights can be fully realized
Helpful
29
Article 29 Duties to the community; limitations on rights determined by law
Independent
30
Article 30 No right to destroy these rights
Independent
Shareholder Democracy Network · shareholderdemocracy.org · Methodology and sources