Human Rights stamps

1948, 1968, 1988, 1998: the dates that make the series

Anniversaries of the Universal Declaration

Issues concentrate on a few vintages: 1968 (six stamps or series), 1988 (seven), 1998 (twelve) and, to a lesser extent, 1989 and 1997. They match the anniversaries of the 1948 Universal Declaration, twenty, forty and fifty years on, and the bicentenary of the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. These dates pull the section up far more than ordinary years, where there is often a single stamp.

The United Nations, three offices

The UN's three postal offices, New York, Geneva and Vienna, alone account for more than a quarter of the listings. You'll find, for instance, UN New York in 1991 (nos. 599 to 604) and 1998 (nos. 773/774), UN Vienna in 1992 (nos. 151 to 156), 1998 (nos. 286/287) and 2004 (nos. 442/443, also filed under painting). These series follow the organisation's calendar rather than a country's.

African airmail, from 1963 to 1969

Several stamps from the 1960s are airmail stamps: Mali (PA21) and Mauritania (PA33) in 1963, Togo in 1969 (PA105/106 and PA113/114), then again in 1980 (PA434/435) and 1985 (PA534 to PA537), the United Arab Emirates (Manama) in 1968 (PA7). This run of African and Gulf issues accompanies the International Year for Human Rights.

Discreet crossovers

A few listings carry a second label: a 2025 French official stamp (no. 188) also filed under Europe, a UN Vienna series under painting, two 1997 French stamps (nos. 3052 and 3052A) under philately. A 2024 stamp from Polynesia (no. 1342) ties the theme to a personality, Yvonne Katupa.

Prices of one to four euros

Most single stamps sit between one and four euros, series around three to seven. A few pieces rise to about ten or fifteen euros: the 1985 Togo series, the 2010 Libya series and the 1968 Polynesian series. The Maldives offer their series used at three euros.