The topic of human rights is one of the most important facing modern people and societies because it is related to so many other modern global issues, such as: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, poverty, slavery, climate change, women’s rights and child labor.
WHAT ARE HUMAN RIGHTS?
In general, human rights are understood to be the rights provided to individuals which protect them from persecution or mistreatment by others or governments. They describe how we all expect to be treated with a focus on human dignity and respect. When learning about human rights its first important to understand that they are often defined as being ‘fundamental’ and ‘universal’. For instance, when human rights are defined as being ‘fundamental’, it means that the rights belong to all people. As such, human rights cannot be denied to someone for any reason, including: age, gender, nation, religion, or ethnicity. As stated above, human rights are also considered to be ‘universal’, which means that human rights are to be applied at all times and to all people equally. As a result, the modern concept of human rights is generally referred to as ‘fundamental human rights’ or ‘universal human rights’.
While there are many different understandings of human rights in the world today, the leading document on the topic is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was created by the United Nations during its third General Assembly on December 10th, 1948. In general, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a document that contains a set of 30 different individual rights related to the protection of a person’s basic human rights. It also contains a preamble, which sets out the basic foundations of these rights. Several of the rights include: basic concepts of liberty, right to life, freedom of movement and restrictions on torture and slavery. While most countries have agreed to follow the rights present in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the document does not have the force of law. This means that countries are not obligated to follow the declaration and face no legal punishments for failing to provide their citizens with rights. Regardless, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is considered to be the main document on human rights today and is the main guide for issues related to human rights.
HISTORY OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Throughout most of human history there were no or very limited human rights. For example, during the Middle Ages, most people in Europe lived within the system of feudalism. Feudalism was a societal system that involved people being ranked into different classes. Under feudalism, the government was dominated by an absolute monarch, in which all power was held within a single king or queen. Under this system, the average citizen was denied basic human rights, because the monarch held all or most of the authority within society. As such, the king could pass laws and carry out actions that today would be considered a violation of our human rights. This is important to understand, because one of the first documents to ever protect rights was the Magna Carta Libertatum.
The Magna Carta Libertatum (more commonly known as ‘Magna Carta’) was an important document related to human rights from England. The term ‘Magna Carta Libertatum’ translates to ‘the Great Charter of Liberties’ and was a charter of rights agreed to by King John of England in 1215. John was a relatively unpopular king and was pressured by powerful land owners to limit the powers of the monarchy in favor of more individual rights in the form of the Magna Carta. As a result, the Magna Carta was a significant document in the history of the development of human rights and is still viewed today as a major foundation of modern human rights. The information below is a summary of the history of human rights since the time of the Middle Ages. Click here to read a more substantial article on the history of human rights.
HUMAN RIGHTS – AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT
While there were several earlier examples (such as the Magna Carta), the modern concept of universal human rights ultimately began with the events of the Age of Enlightenment. The Enlightenment, occurred during the 18th century and is known as a time of great change and new ideas. Specifically, the Enlightenment involved an intellectual movement, in which famous thinkers and philosophers challenged some of the basic foundations of society, including: role of the government, basic human nature, sources of authority and ideas centered on liberty. As such, the foundational ideas of human rights emerged out of this exploration of society. For instance, famous Enlightenment philosopher, John Locke, discussed the idea of natural rights in his writing from the 17th century. Locke was an English philosopher that believed that people possessed natural rights such as ‘life, liberty, and estate’, which he argued could not be taken by any form of authority. Another prominent Enlightenment-era philosopher was Thomas Paine. Paine lived from 1737 until 1809 and was born in England, but is most famous for his contributions to the discussion of liberty that resulted in the events of the American Revolution. His first major contribution to the American Revolution came shortly after the Battles of Lexington and Concord when he wrote “Common Sense”. This 30-page pamphlet argued that Americans should not be content with simply not paying taxes to the British, but that the rebels should fight for outright autonomy from the motherland. As such, the ideas of Thomas Paine are often linked to the notion of individual liberty and human rights.
As stated above, the ideals of the Enlightenment and Enlightenment philosophers led to both the American Revolution and the French Revolution. Both of these events are important to the discussion of the development of human rights because they involved the creation of important documents on the establishment of rights. For example, the American Revolution occurred from 1765 until 1783 and saw the American colonies revolt against British rule. During this time, several significant documents were drafted, that related to human rights. The most important of which was the United States Declaration of Independence. This document was written primarily by Thomas Jefferson and formally ratified on July 4th, 1776. The United States Declaration of Independence is important because it was centered on the idea of human rights for the people, especially in relation to the government.
Following the events of the American Revolution, another major conflict erupted in France. The French Revolution unfolded as a series of major events from 1789 until 1799. In general, the French Revolution saw the members of the Third Estate in France revolt against the authority of King Louis XVI and the estates system. Similar to the American Revolution, the revolutionaries in France produced a significant document that promoted the concept of rights against the government. In France, this document was called the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, and was adopted on August 26th, 1789, by the National Assembly. The Declaration was written by Marquis de Lafeyette, a French military officer who fought in the American Revolution and was inspired by the ideals of liberty expressed by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence.
The idea of human rights continued to develop throughout the timeframe of the 18th and 19th centuries with philosophers such as John Stuart Mill. For instance, the ideas of John Stuart Mill played an important role in the development of liberalism. Mill, who was a British philosopher, published a famous essay in 1859 on the idea of individual rights and the role of government. Titled ‘On Liberty’, the essay expresses Mill’s beliefs that the rights of individuals should be extended to the greatest extent possible. For example, he argued for limited government intervention in the lives of citizens and promoted the idea that the government should only seek to protect: rule of law, private ownership, and the security of the individual. Further to this idea, Mill was a strong supporter of freedom of speech. He argued against governments censoring the views of citizens and supported the idea that people should be allowed to express their views regardless of if they are supported by the rest of society.
HUMAN RIGHTS – 19TH CENTURY TO MODERN TIMES
With this said, the 19th century and early 20th century was a difficult time period for the development and establishment of human rights for all people. This is exemplified by issues related to child labor, slavery, war crimes, genocides and war. First, child labor was a major issue during the timeframe of the Industrial Revolution in both England and the United States. Child labor was especially common in the late 18th century, during the early years of the Industrial Revolution. At the time, industrial cities and towns grew dramatically due to the migration of farmers and their families who were looking for work in the newly developed factories and mines. Child labor was a human rights issue at this time, due to the poor treatment given to the children working in the factories. Second, slavery was another issue related to human rights at the time. For example, during the time of the Atlantic Slave Trade, approximately 12 million to 20 million Africans were put on slave ships, sailed across the Atlantic Ocean and sold into slavery in the New World. Third, human rights issues were thrust into the forefront of humanity in the early 20th century with the events of both World War I and World War II. During the first few decades of the 20th century, the world was faced with several significant genocides, war crimes, and conflicts, which caused people to suffer a loss of their basic human rights. This included events such as: Ukraine Famine, Holocaust, and Nanking Massacre. In fact, these events were important for the eventual development of modern human rights.
Both the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were created following the events of World War II and the Holocaust. In fact, these two major world events were important in the creation of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, because the world sought to prevent other such events from occurring again. This is best evidenced in the United Nations Charter, which is the document that was created at the establishment of the United Nations in 1946. For example, at its creation, people hoped the United Nations Charter “reaffirmed faith in fundamental human rights, and dignity and worth of the human person”. As well, it promoted the idea of “universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion”. As such, the terrible genocide of the Holocaust, which was carried out by Nazi Germany, caused nations to want to establish a universal set of rights that could set out a basic agreement on respect for human rights.
Therefore, in 1946, members of the United Nation set out by creating the Commission on Human Rights, which was a committee of 18 different members. Eleanor Roosevelt, who was an important American political figure and the wife of American President Franklin D. Roosevelt, led the Commission on Human Rights. The commission met several times over the next few months and drafted the main declarations present in the document.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was created by the United Nations during its third General Assembly on December 10th, 1948. At the time, the UN was made up of 58 different member nations. Of these 58 different member nations, 48 voted for the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, while eight nations abstained from voting and two others did not vote. The majority of countries that abstained from voting were from the Soviet-bloc of nations in Europe who likely objected to some of the freedoms declared in the document.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is important today because it was the first ever document that listed universal rights and set out a basic framework in which nations could ensure the protection of human rights for their own citizens.
Another important aspect of human rights that emerged following World War II was the establishment of the Hague Conventions and Geneva Conventions. For example, the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 at The Hague in the Netherlands, established several ‘laws of war’. This was the first instance of formal agreements between countries about what was considered to be a war crime. Another example was the Geneva Conventions, which were a series of treaties from 1864 to 1949, that established a framework for international law. Every member country of the United Nations agreed to the terms of the Geneva Conventions at this time, and established the different types of war crimes. As such, there are several different types of acts that can be considered war crimes, including: willful killing of innocent civilians, mistreatment or killing of prisoners of war, taking hostages, torture and rape, use of child soldiers, destruction of civilian property, theft of civilian property and goods, and misleading or hiding intentions of war.
Throughout the remainder of the 20th century, the idea of fundamental and universal human rights remained an important topic. For example, the United Nations continues to deal with human rights issues across the world today and works to unite people in solving the different issues. This can be seen in more modern genocides and war crimes, such as the Rwanda Genocide. However, other modern issues related to human rights also include: women’s rights, poverty, modern slavery, modern child labor, voting rights, and more. To deal with these more modern issues, the United Nations established the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on March 15th, 2006. The goal of the UNHRC is to deal with claims of United Nations member nations and human rights violations.
HUMAN RIGHTS – MODERN ISSUES
Today, human rights face numerous issues around the world, despite the advancements made throughout the previous centuries. In fact, many of the issues that plagued humanity in the 20th century, continue still to this day. For instance, one of the main issues facing human rights in the modern world is that some people are guaranteed rights in the constitutions of their countries, while others live in societies that do not grant or guarantee any rights. For instance, people living in a country such as the United States have very different rights protecting them, than the people living in North Korea. As such, it is important to note that the distribution of rights is unequal across the globe. Furthermore, the modern world is still grappling with issues such as hunger, poverty and war. These issues make the establishment and protection of human rights to be incredibly difficult.
Another problem for modern human rights is that technology and the advancement of society has created new areas of concern. For instance, new technologies create issues around free speech, censorship, and privacy. As humanity advances, so to do the avenues in which human rights can either strengthen or weaken. More specifically, the advancements of the internet, smartphones and social media have created all new areas in which human rights are being tested.
Below is a list of modern issues facing human rights. This list is not exhaustive and is meant to illustrate the ongoing struggle that humanity faces with maintaining and strengthening human rights.
- Poverty and lack of access to basic needs (healthcare, education, clean water, food, housing)
- War, state-sponsored violence and other armed conflicts
- Crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes
- Government repression and authoritarianism
- Restrictions on freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly
- Child labor, human trafficking, and modern slavery
- Discrimination based on age, disability, ethnicity, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, etc.
- State or corporate-based surveillance, digital censorship, and online privacy threats
- Lack of accountability for human rights abuses
