UNIT 2: Human Rights

Nature and Evolution of Human Rights

Practice of Human Rights

Codification, Protection, and Monitoring of Human Rights

Debates surrounding Human Rights: Differing Interpretations of Justice, Liberty, and Equality

Protection and Enforcement of Human Rights at Different Levels

Monitoring Human Rights agreements

Human Rights Laws and Treaties

Universal Rights vs. Cultural Relativism

Politicization of Human Rights

Individual vs. Collective Rights

Claims on Human Rights

Violations of Human Rights

UN Declaration of Human Rights

Development of Human Rights Over Time and Space

Definition of Human Rights

The basic rights and freedoms that belong to every person in the world, from birth until death, and which apply regardless of where you are from, what you believe or how you choose to live your life.

A milestone document in the history of human rights proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948 as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. It sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected.

Code of Hammurabi (1754 BC)

Magna Carta (1215 CE)

United States Declaration of Independence (1776)

UN Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789)

Law about equality regardless of race

Law about free education

Law about separation of Church and State

Law about state support for children

75 constitutions

143 constitutions

162 constitutions

133 constitutions

The Human Rights Council is composed of 47 elected United Nations Member States, empowered to prevent abuses, inequity and discrimination, protect the most vulnerable, and expose the perpetrators of human rights violations.

​The International Criminal Court investigates and, where warranted, tries individuals charged with the gravest crimes of concern to the international community: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression.

Red Cross: a humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education.

UNICEF: a United Nations agency responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide.

Human Rights Watch: an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights.

US Guantanamo Bay: Guantánamo Bay was established by the United States to hold people perceived to be ‘enemy combatants’.The facilities at Guantánamo have become emblematic of the gross human rights abuses perpetrated by the US government in the name of terrorism.

China's Concentration Camps: For several years, China has been carrying out a cultural genocide, not mass killing of people but a mass extermination of their ideas and beliefs. In the camps, detainees are bombarded with the language and traditions of the country’s majority Han Chinese.

Rights and Definitions of Indigenous Peoples

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Indigenous People are distinct populations relative to the dominant post-colonial culture of their country.

Indigenous People usually have (or had) their own language, cultures, and traditions

Indigenous People have distinctive cultural traditions that are still practiced.

Indigenous People have (or had) their own land and territory, to which they are tied in myriad ways.

Indigenous People self-identify as Indigenous.

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Individual rights

Collective rights

The right to speak one's native language and educate children in that language; the right to cultural preservation. The rights of indigenous peoples to land and resources held collectively, and the right to pass land and resources down through the generations.

the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as stated in the United States Declaration of Independence. A community is a group of people with common interests and values.

“Strong cultural relativism” holds that culture is the principal source of the validity of a moral right or rule. Universalism would hold that culture is irrelevant to the validity of
moral rights and rules, which are universally valid.

When countries engage in a dialogue on human rights, sometimes they agree and at other times they disagree. However, all nations should respect differences and boundaries; no country can accept the politicization of human rights. It should be stressed that there is a difference between human rights and the respect of laws, the judiciary system, and national security

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