Is Copyright a Human Right?

On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This is a very interesting document which many people, unfortunately, are not familiar with.

Of particular interest, for the purposes of this discussion, is Article 27, which deals with the human rights with regard to culture.

Article 27.

(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

(2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Essentially, the second right that is voiced in this particular article is the right to Copyright.

As part of this discussion, we should mention the organization Youth for Human Rights, who are dedicated to the education of children in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They have produced, and have available for download a series of PSAs on each of the Human Rights of the Declaration, suitably simplified for Children.

Here is the link to their PSA for Right 27

Given the arguments about downloads and music and movie piracy, the fundamental question has to be asked:

Is Copyright a Human Right?