rights and freedoms lesson 1

What are human rights?

Rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled, regardless of their race, sex, class, language or religion and cannot be overridden.

What were its influences?

The American and French Revolutions, 1776 and 1789 respectively promoted ideas of liberty and freedom of expression.

How was the progress of spreading human rights?

Quite incremental, usually taking global events such as WWII to explode rapidly.

What human rights were violated in WWII?

The bombing of civilians; the displacement of refugees; the ill-treatment of prisoners of war; the planned genocide of millions of minorities by fascist and Nazi Axis powers.

What were previous organisations assigned to protect human rights?

The Geneva Conventions (1864), the Hague Convention (1900) and the League of Nations (1919).

When and who was the UN first established?

The Allied Powers at Yalta Conference in 1945.

What led to establishing the Commission of Human Rights in the UN and what is its purpose?

Pressure from dozens of American non-government organisations (NGOs) due to the need for human rights to be codified and defined following WWII

Who was the first chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights?

Eleanor Roosevelt.

Who made the first draft of the UDHR?

Canadian academic John Peters Humphrey.

When was the UDHR passed?

10 December 1948.

Who voted for and against?

The great majority of states voted in favour and none voted against, but eight members abstained from voting, 6 were from the Soviet Bloc, South Africa and Saudi Arabia

What is the UDHR accompanied by?

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), prohibits torture, slavery and incitement to religious or racial hatred and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) demands an adequate standard of living, education and social security for all.

What does the International Bill of Human Rights comprise?

The UDHR and 2 covenants (ICCPR and ICESCR).

Is the International Bill of Human Rights legally binding?

No, most countries of the world are guilty of human rights violations of some kind.

What are some changes people want to the IBHR?

More attention to environmental rights and protection, a ‘Right to Refuse to Kill’ and calls for some rights to be extended beyond the human species.

How did Australia get involved in the UDHR?

When Herbert Evatt got involved with the development.

What did Herbert Evatt contribute to the UDHR and the UN in general?

He was keen to make the document a legally binding one and when the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration on 10 December 1948, Evatt was its President.

What was Herbert Evatt’s impact on human rights in Australia?

Following Evatt’s withdrawal, Australia’s commitment to the promotion of human rights waned during the 1950s and 1960s. Australia was slow to ratify the ICCPR and instead, the Australian Human Rights Commission merely suggests amendments to local legislation.

What is Australia’s stance on human rights?

Australia remains the only advanced Western nation that does not possess its own Bill of Rights and though Australia has now ratified most of the UN’s human rights covenants it attracts criticism for the treatment of its indigenous peoples and its treatment of asylum seekers and refugees.

How have women contributed to the UN?

Through their pushing particular rights to appear as articles or via changing the very language of the text.