Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights
to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a
human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal (applicable
everywhere) and egalitarian (the same for everyone). These rights may
exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national and
international law. The doctrine of human rights in international
practice, within international law, global and regional institutions, in
the policies of states and the activities of non-governmental
organizations has been a cornerstone of public policy around the world.
It has been said that: "if the public discourse of peacetime global
society can be said to have a common moral language, it is that of human
rights." Despite this, the strong claims made by the doctrine of human
rights continue to provoke considerable skepticism and debates about the
content, nature and justifications of human rights continue to this
day. Indeed, the question of what is meant by a "right" is itself
controversial and the subject of continued philosophical debate.
Many of the basic ideas that animated the movement developed in the
aftermath of the Second World War and the atrocities of the Holocaust,
culminating in the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
in Paris by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948. The ancient
world did not possess the concept of universal human rights. Ancient
societies had "elaborate systems of duties... conceptions of justice,
political legitimacy, and human flourishing that sought to realize human
dignity, flourishing, or well-being entirely independent of human
rights".The modern concept of human rights developed during the early
Modern period, alongside the European secularization of Judeo-Christian
ethics. The true forerunner of human rights discourse was the concept of
natural rights which appeared as part of the medieval Natural law
tradition, became prominent during the Enlightenment with such
philosophers as John Locke, Francis Hutcheson, and Jean-Jacques
Burlamaqui, and featured prominently in the political discourse of the
American Revolution and the French Revolution.
From this foundation, the modern human rights movement emerged over the
latter half of the twentieth century. Gelling as social activism and
political rhetoric in many nations put it high on the world agenda.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are
endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another
in a spirit of brotherhood.