During the drafting of the UDHR, representatives of the colonial powers had fought hard against the inclusion of this guarantee, even arguing that it was discriminatory to mention colonial subjects specifically as subjects of human rights. Back then, delegates representing colonial powers had spoken forcefully against what the UK delegate called the 'apparent discrimination' of 'especially mentioning the trust and non-self-governing territories'. To specify that colonial subjects were subjects of human rights, they argued then, would be to call into question the universality of the category 'everyone'. Now, faced with drafting a legally binding covenant, delegates of these same states proposed colonial exclusion clauses to prevent the automatic application of the covenants in the territories they controlled.

Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, loc. 268