Human rights are basic rights that all humans should have, but have been neglected throughout history. The United Nations was founded to protect these rights and issued a Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Violations of human rights still occur, but advocates hope for universal protection.
Human rights are a set of fundamental rights that many people believe are the birthright of all human beings. The concept is ancient, although the term only came into use in the 1940s. Since many people, especially in the West, are very sensitive to human rights, a number of measures have been taken to protect them. An international organization, the United Nations, has a big division related to their protection.
The idea that people are entitled to a few basic rights by the nature of their humanity is an ancient one. Many historical documents have codified some of these fundamental rights. Unfortunately, there is also a long history of these rights being neglected by some groups. Many slave-owning societies, for example, were passionate enough about human rights to include them in their legislation, and slaves were excluded because they were deemed less than human.
In the 1940s, World War II called great attention to the concept. Many nations were deeply concerned by the actions of the Axis Powers, which significantly curtailed human rights for a number of people, the most prominent followers of the Jewish faith. At the end of the war, the United Nations was founded, and this became one of the main issues that the organization focused on. In 1948, the United Nations had issued a Universal Declaration of Human Rights, asking all member countries to sign it and defend the rights described therein.
As a general rule, most human rights advocates believe that human beings have a right to their life and freedom. Furthermore, human beings should be able to think and communicate at will, as these issues are very much related to a sense of freedom. Finally, all human beings should be entitled to equality before the law. Many people also believe in a number of additional legal protections, including bans on slavery and torture. Furthermore, humans and governments have a duty to protect the rights of all people.
When a fundamental principle of these rights is abused, we speak of a violation of human rights. Unfortunately, many countries commit such violations, ranging from executing criminals for trivial crimes to extraordinary rendition of terrorist suspects. Many people report them in hopes of ending such violations, sometimes at the risk of their own lives. These people hope that human rights can one day become universal without the need for observers and whistleblowers.
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