Human Rights

The concept of human rights is not a modern phenomenon. Through codes, decrees, or laws, rulers of empires in ancient India, Mesopotamia, and Persia, for example, established certain rights and privileges for their citizens. Also, some of the oldest written sources on rights and responsibilities are in the documents of many of the world's major religions.

The modern notion of human rights gained strength during the 18th-century Age of Enlightenment, as confidence in human reason increased. European philosophers, most notably John Locke, developed the concept of “natural rights” in the 17th and 18th centuries. Locke believed that people, as creatures of God, possessed certain rights by virtue of their humanity, regardless of race, culture, religion, or ethnicity. Natural rights further played a key role in the 18th- and 19th-century struggles against political absolutism and the divine right of kings, which restricted the principles of freedom and equality. The notion of natural rights, therefore, was important in the eventual development of human rights.

The term human rights is a relatively new one, gaining acceptance with the founding of the United Nations in 1945. This term replaced natural rights, partially because of the latter's frequent association with religious orthodoxy and growing disenchantment with the term by philosophical and political liberals. Natural rights entailed a select few rights—such as Locke's abstract notions of the rights to “life, liberty, and property”—which found similar expression in the U.S. Declaration of Independence. In comparison, the concept of human rights is much more diverse and specific. Adopted, in part, as a reaction to the atrocities committed by the Nazis during World War II, the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 established what most nations would accept as the list of modern-day human rights.

Consisting of 30 articles, the UN Declaration of Human Rights lists the rights and fundamental freedoms to which all men and women, everywhere in the world, are entitled, “without any discrimination.” These specific rights fall into one of six sections: Security Rights protect against crimes (such as murder, torture, and rape); Due Process Rights protect against abuses of the legal system (imprisonment without trial, secret trials, and excessive punishments); Liberty Rights protect freedoms (such as belief, expression, association, assembly, and movement); Political Rights protect the liberty to participate in politics by communicating, assembling, protesting, voting, and serving in office; Equality Rights guarantee equal citizenship (i.e., equality before the law); and Social/ Welfare Rights are nondiscriminatory rights for all (such as education for all children and protection against starvation).

Additionally, human rights fall into two main subsections: negative and positive. Negative rights are primary or “first-generation rights” and generally encompass the idea that one is entitled not to be abused by another person or state. Such rights are embedded in the U.S. Bill of Rights, the English Bill of Rights, and the Canadian Charter of Rights. A common example is the notion that states should refrain from denying due process of law or equality to their citizens. A positive right (or “second-generation right”), however, is one that states or individuals are obligated to follow. Such positive rights include education, health care, and a minimum standard of living. To compare the two types of rights, consider the example of the right to life: A “negative right” to life would require a state or individual to refrain from killing or critically injuring someone; a “positive right” to life would require the state or individuals to act to save the life of someone who would otherwise die.

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