WHAT IS HUMAN RIGHTS?
HISTORICAL
DEVELOPMENT OF
HUMAN RIGHTS
• The roots of human rights lie in earlier tradition and documents of many cultures.
• The World War II propels the human rights onto the global stage and into the global conscience.
• People acquired rights and responsibilities through their membership in a group through out the history.
FIVE OLDEST WRITTEN SOURCES WHICH ADDRESS QUESTIONS OF PEOPLE’S DUTIES,
RIGHTS, AND RESPONSIBILITIES
THE THE
THE ANALECTS OF
QUR’AN BIBLE CONFUCIUS
HINDU VEDAS CODE OF
HAMMURABI
• In the 18 century, The Age of Enlightenment, the concept of human rights emerged as an explicit category.
• Cyrus Cylinder – Issued by Cyrus the Great.
• Magna Charta Libertatum of 1215
• Golden Bull of Hungary 1222
• Danish Erik Klipping’sHandfaesting of 1282
• Joyeuse Entrée of 1356
• The Union of Utrect of 1579
• English Bill of Rights during 1689
• Centuries after the Middle Ages the concept of liberty became gradually separated from status and came to
be seen not as a privilege but as a of all human beings.
• Spanish Theologists and jurists played a prominent role in the context of liberty as a right and not as a
privilege of human beings.
Francisco De Vitoria Bartolome de las
(1486-1546) Casas
(1474-1566)
• The Enlightenment was decisive in the development of human rights concepts.
• Hugo Grotius, one of the father of modern international law, of Samuel von Pufendorf, and of John Locke
attracted much interest in Europe in the 18 century.
• Locke developed a comprehensive concept of natural right; consisting of life, liberty, and property.
• Jean- Jacques Rousseau, then, elaborated the concept of Locke under which the sovereign derived his
powers.
• The term Human Rights appeared for the first time in the French Declaration des Droits de l’Homme et du
Citoyen during 1789.
•During 18th and 19th century, several constitutions drafted in Europe around 1800 contained classic
rights, taking into account the principle of equality as contained in the French Declaration of 1789.
• Social Rights were also included in the Mexican Constitution of 1917, Constitution of the Soviet Union of
1918 and German Constitution of 1919.
• In the 19th century there were frequent inter-state disputes relating to the protection of the rights of minorities
in Europe, these leds to several humanitarian interventions and calls for international protection
arrangements.
• At the end of the 19th century, the needs for international standards on human rights was felt when the
industrial countries began o introduce labour legislation.
• Economic necessities forced the states to consult each other.
• The Bern Convention – First Multi-lateral Convention.
• The atrocities of World War II put an end to the traditional view that the states have full liberty to decide the
treatment of their own citizens.
• The signing of the Charter of the United Nations on June 26, 1945 brought human rights within the sphere
of international law.
• Less than two years after signing the Charter of the United States, the UN Commission on Human Rights,
established early in 1946, submitted a draft Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) to the UN
General Assembly (UNGA).
• More countries joined the UN during 1950’s and 1960’s
• Proclamation of Teherean (1968), which was adopted during the second World Conference on Human
Rights (1993).
• Since 1950’s the UDHR has been backed up by a large number international conventions.
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
- International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
• In the 20th century, human rights has replaced earlier expressions such as “natural rights” (lex naturali) in
classical Greek and Roman thought, natural law (jus naturale) and the law of nations (jus gentium) in Roman
law and during Middle ages.
