LONDON (CNN) -- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted 50 years ago, remains all but meaningless for tens of thousands of people worldwide, the international human rights group Amnesty International says in its new report released Wednesday.

In the 1997 report, Amnesty documented extrajudicial executions in 55 countries and judicial executions in 40 others. Prisoners of conscience were in jail in at least 87 countries while torture cases were recorded in 117 nations and "disappearances" in 31.

"For most people around the world, the rights in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are little more than a paper promise," said Pierre Sane, Amnesty International's secretary-general.

Sane also said that:

• 1.3 billion people struggle to survive on less than $1 a day.

• 35,000 people die of malnutrition and preventable diseases every day.

• 1 billion adults, mostly women, cannot read or write.

• Prisoners of conscience are jailed in half the world's countries.

For all those people, Sane argued, the promise enshrined in the human rights declaration has not been fulfilled.

The 1997 Amnesty report also gave a regional breakdown of the organization's findings. Following are some key elements: