<P> Once the Committee finished its work in May 1948, the draft was further discussed by the Commission on Human Rights, the Economic and Social Council, the Third Committee of the General Assembly before being put to vote in December 1948 . During these discussions many amendments and propositions were made by UN Member States . </P> <P> British representatives were extremely frustrated that the proposal had moral but no legal obligation . (It was not until 1976 that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights came into force, giving a legal status to most of the Declaration .) </P> <P> The Universal Declaration was adopted by the General Assembly as Resolution 217 on 10 December 1948 . Of the then 58 members of the United Nations, 48 voted in favor, none against, eight abstained and Honduras and Yemen failed to vote or abstain . </P> <P> The meeting record provides first hand insight of the debate . South Africa's position can be seen as an attempt to protect its system of apartheid, which clearly violated any number of articles in the Declaration . The Saudi Arabian delegation's abstention was prompted primarily by two of the Declaration's articles: Article 18, which states that everyone has the right "to change his religion or belief"; and Article 16, on equal marriage rights . The six communist countries abstentions centred around the view that the Declaration did not go far enough in condemning fascism and Nazism . Eleanor Roosevelt attributed the abstention of Soviet bloc countries to Article 13, which provided the right of citizens to leave their countries . </P>

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