Human rights

Human rights is the idea that people should have rights just because they are human beings. These rights are seen as universal, which means they are meant for everyone, no matter what their race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, age, sex, political beliefs (or any other kind of beliefs), intelligence, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity.

Human rights history

The idea of human rights comes from ideas found in religion and philosophy. Many religions have laws or rules about how people should act toward others, in order to protect their rights. The exact idea, and word, "human rights" is not in old religious books (scriptures). But some of the rules from religions and writings from philosophy made people think about it - by saying it was moral to treat people the right way.

The modern Western idea of human rights started in the European Enlightenment.

In the 16th century, some people started suggesting that everyone had the right to choose their religion and their leaders. This sort of thinking was important in the English civil war. After the war, the Philosopher John Locke argued that people should have these rights; he was one of the first people to call them "human rights." These ideas were also important in the American revolution and the French revolution in the 18th century

In the 19th century, John Stuart Mill was an important philosopher who thought about human rights. He said that people should be able to control their own bodies and minds. He talked about three special ideas:

freedom of speech (being able to say what you want)
freedom of assembly (being able to meet with others)
freedom to do what you wish if it does not harm others (even if other people think it is bad)

Georg Hegel was a philosopher who talked about the idea of free will. He also talked about what makes a person free: that a person has to have certain relations with other people to have true freedom. A person has to be able to:

own property
make contracts with other people
make moral promises to people
live with family
get protection from laws
have a voice in government

Human rights principles

Human rights is an idea or principle. This means it is a concept that people talk about, think about, and believe.

There are many reasons for the principle of human rights:

Natural law is the idea that truth exists as part of the natural world. This also is a religious idea, that natural law is made by God.
Science shows us reasons to have human rights. Biologists say that the reason we feel that human rights are good is because we evolved this way. If an organism is good to other organisms, both organisms live better most of the time.
Political philosophy also gives reasons for human rights. If all people are treated fairly and well, there will be fewer fights in society.

Human rights laws

Because people believe that human rights are important, countries make laws to protect them. These laws say that governments cannot take away people's basic rights. They make sure people who take away other people's rights are punished.

Some major political organizations have made statements that promote human rights. These are not laws, but they affect us anyway. If groups or countries do not follow these statements, others will condemn them (say that they are very bad); and then people may not talk with them, do business with them, or help them.

Some of the important places that human rights laws are written is in constitutions. The United States' and France's constitutions are two of the oldest set of laws based on human rights.

In 1948 the United Nations made the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This is a widely respected document that says what the United Nations believes are human rights. It is not a law, but is the basis on which two important agreements are written:

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
The International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights

These are United Nations human rights Covenants: agreements between people or countries. The countries who sign these two covenants agree to follow them.

List of human rights

Not everyone agrees on what the basic human rights are. Here is a list of some of the most recognized ones:

Right to live, exist.
To work for yourself (not be a slave)
To own property
Speech (to say what you want)
Security (to not be afraid you will be harmed)
Safety from violence
Protection from the law
Not being arrested unless there is reason to believe you have committed a crime
Having a fair trial
To be seen as innocent (not guilty), even if you are arrested, until you are found to be guilty by a fair court
To be a citizen of a country
To vote
To seek asylum if your country treats you badly
To marry who you wish
To think freely
To believe and practice the religion you want
To peacefully protest (speak against) a government or group
To a basic standard of living (food, shelter, clothing, etc.)
Education
Health care (medical care)

Human rights abuses

Abuse means to hurt someone very badly. Human rights abuses happen when people are hurt in a way that violates (goes against) his human rights. Human rights abuses are also often called human rights violations.

Examples of human rights abuses or violations are:

Putting a person in jail because they said that the government is doing bad things
Taking a person's home because they are from a different country
Not letting someone who is a citizen of a country vote because he or she is has the "wrong" kind of attribute as mentioned on top of article.
Violence toward someone because they have a (any) - or a different one to the one of the abuser - religion.

Many people, groups, and countries think protecting human rights are very important. But not everyone in the world believes in human rights. If these people have political power they can hurt many people. Even if these people have no political power, they can be violent to other people. There are many people who work to protect everyone's human rights; some of these are government groups, and some are not with any government. They are sometimes called Human Rights Organizations.

External links

Information

Link to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – in many languages

Human rights organizations

Some well-known human rights groups are:

Politics | Philosophy | human issues

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