What is Human Rights?

Human rights - The rights you have simply

because you’re human.

Where did it come

from?
 Cyrus Cylinder - c539- 530BC

● Cyrus the Great, king of Persia, freed the

slaves of Babylon
● rights to choose their own religion
● established racial equality
● recorded on a baked-clay cylinder (Cyrus
Cylinder) in Akkadian language
 Cyrus Cylinder - c539- 530BC
● world’s first charter of human rights
● translated into six official languages of UN
● its provisions parallel the first 4 articles of UDHR
 Spread of Human Rights..
● Idea of human rights quickly
Babylon spread
● In Rome, concept of ‘natural law’
INDIA arose
● Documents like Magna Carta
(1215), Petition of Right (1628),
GREECE
and US Bill of Rights (1791) are
written predecessors of today’s
Rome human rights documents.
Magna Carta (1215)
● signed by King of England
● the most significant influence leading
to the rule of constitutional law today
● enumerates human rights such as…
right of church to be free from
government interference
rights of citizens to own and
inherit property
 The Petition of Right - 1628
● This petition was sent by the English
Parliament to King Charles I.
● It included the demands that the King
could not tax the people without the
Parliament’s consent nor imprison
people without cause.
 English Bill of Rights - 1689
● Act of the Parliament of England
● Deals with constitutional matters and sets
out certain basic civil rights.
● Lays down limits on the powers of the
monarch and sets out the rights of
Parliament
● Sets out certain rights of individuals including
the prohibition of cruel punishment
United States Declaration of Independence -1776
● Written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776
● Approved by US Congress
● A formal explanation of why Congress
had voted to declare independence
from Great Britain
● Announcing that the 13 American
Colonies were no longer a part of the
British empire
United States Declaration of Independence-1776

● Declaration stressed two themes -

individual rights and the right of
revolution
● These ideas were held by the
Americans and were spread
internationally
● Influenced the French Revolution
The Declaration of the Rights of Man - 1789
● Named Déclaration des droits de l'homme
et du citoyen (French) and contains 17
articles
● Passed by France's National Constituent
Assembly in August 1789
● Basis principle is “men are born and
remain free and equal in rights”(Article 1)
● Basis for a nation of free individuals
protected equally by the law
 The U.S. Bill of Rights - 1789
● First ten amendments to the United
States Constitution.
● Crafted to address the objections raised
by Anti-Federalists
Seventeen Articles approved by
the House

Twelve Articles approved by the

Senate in August 24, 1789

Virginia’s legislature became the last

to ratify the amendments
The Geneva Conventions- 1864
● Comprise four treaties and two additional
protocols
● Establish standards of international law
for humanitarian treatment in war
● Established protections for the
○ wounded and sick
○ civilians in and around a war-zone.
 Women’s Suffrage - 1893
● Known as women’s right to vote
● First European country - Grand Duchy of Finland
● First sheet of the giant suffrage petition
● The United States gave women equal voting rights in all
states with the Nineteenth Amendment ratified in 1920.
 The United Nations - 1945
● LARGEST & POWERFUL Intergovernmental organization-
○ to encourage resolution of international conflicts without
war & to form policies on international issues.
● OBJECTIVES:
○ Maintain worldwide peace & security
○ Developing relations among nations
○ Fostering cooperation between nations to solve economic,
social, cultural, or humanitarian international problems
○ Providing a forum for bringing countries together to meet the
UN’s purposes and goals
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)- 1948
● Was proclaimed by the United Nations
General Assembly in Paris on 10
December 1948
● Human rights are universal - to be
enjoyed by all people, no matter who
they are or where they live.
● 30 articles affirming an individual’s
rights
 30 Articles
● We Are All Born Free & Equal
● Don’t Discriminate
● The Right to Life
● No Slavery
● No Torture
● You Have Rights No Matter Where You Go
● We’re All Equal Before the Law
● Your Human Rights Are Protected by Law
● No Unfair Detainment
● The Right to Trial
● We’re Always Innocent Till Proven Guilty
● The Right to Privacy
● Freedom to Move
● The Right to Seek a Safe Place to Live
● Right to a Nationality
● Marriage and Family
● The Right to Your Own Things
● Freedom of Thought
● Freedom of Expression
● The Right to Public Assembly
● The Right to Democracy
● Social Security
● Workers’ Rights
● The Right to Play
● Food and Shelter for All
● The Right to Educate
● Copyright
● A Fair and Free World
● Responsibility
● No One Can Take Away Your Human Rights
International Human Rights Law (IHRL)-1948
● Body of international law - to promote
human rights on social, regional, and
domestic levels
● Strengthened when the United Nations
General Assembly adopted of the UDHR on
10 December 1948
● Primarily made up of treaties, agreements
between states and customary
international law.
 Human Rights Violations
● Occur when actions by state (or non-state) actors abuse, ignore,
or deny basic human rights.
● Examples:
○ 6,500 people were killed in 2007 in armed conflict in
Afghanistan—nearly half being non combatant civilian
deaths at the hands of insurgents.
○ In Brazil in 2007, police killed at least 1,260 individuals. All
incidents were officially labelled “acts of resistance”
 - QUIZ - 4. The International Human
1. Who signed Magna Carta?
Rights law promotes human
A. King of Russia
rights on ………… levels.
B. King of England
I. social
C. King of Persia
II. domestic
III. regional
2. List down 2 articles from UDHR. IV. national

A. I,II,III
3. The petition of right was sent to B. I,II,IV
A. King Charles I C. II,III,IV
B. King Charles II D. All of the above
 - QUIZ -
babylon 5. Figure on your left is the
flow of spread of Human
INDIA Rights. Fill in the blank.

A. China
GREECE B. Japan
C. Rome
? D. France
THANK YOU !!