Listen now (6 mins) | The Second World War, which raged from 1939 to 1945, was the darkest chapter in the history of mankind. It was also a period of unparalleled brutality and merciless killings. Following the war, the United Nations was founded on 24 October 1945, with the aim of avoiding similar global conflicts in the future and maintaining world peace. On 16 February 1946, an inter-governmental body within the United Nations system, the Human Rights Commission, was established to strengthen the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide, as well as to address and make recommendations on cases of human rights violations. The commission later drafted a milestone document which was referred to as humanity's Magna Carta; The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).