Notes on the Historical Development of Human Rights

Foundations of Human Rights

  • Definition: human rights are the basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled.
  • Examples often thought of as human rights:
    • Civil and political rights (First Generation): the right to life and liberty, freedom of expression, equality before the law.
    • Social, cultural and economic rights (Second Generation): right to participate in culture, right to work, right to education.
  • Generations of rights:
    • First Generation: civil and political rights.
    • Second Generation: social, cultural, economic rights.
    • Third Generation (Group Rights / Solidarity): right to sustainable development, right to peace, right to a healthy environment. These are usually not recognised in traditional human rights instruments or domestic law; internationally they are becoming more widespread (e.g., the UN Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers and Members of their Families).
    • Fourth Generation rights: rights for the good of all humankind (emerging in relation to Biotechnology); e.g., related to developments in biotechnology and how they can be used for the common good; reference to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.
  • Important overarching point: while rights exist and contracting states recognise them, understanding the legitimacy of their origins requires looking at their historical development.

Historical Development of Human Rights

  • The idea of "human rights" is not universal; it is essentially a product of 17th and 18th century European thought.
  • The term has come into common usage mainly in the 20th century.
  • Even the very idea of "rights" does not necessarily exist in every society or advanced civilization.
  • The great religions of the world (Judaism, Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, and others) have sought to establish comprehensive, coherent moral codes based on divine law, which include ideas on human dignity and have duties and obligations of humans to others, to nature, and to a higher being.
  • The history of human rights covers thousands of years and draws on religious, cultural, philosophical and legal developments; although many ancient documents and ideas include related concepts, the accepted concept of human rights as a legal right stems primarily from the precedent set by the Magna Carta.

Magna Carta

  • Magna Carta (Latin for ‘Great Charter’) is an English charter originally issued in 1215.
  • It was the most significant early influence on the historical process that led to constitutional law today.
  • It influenced the development of common law and many constitutional documents, including the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights; it is considered one of the most important legal documents in the history of democracy.
  • Origins: Magna Carta arose from disagreements among Pope Innocent III, King John, and English barons about the rights of the King.
  • Provisions: required the King to renounce certain rights, respect legal procedures, and accept that his will could be bound by the law.
  • It explicitly protected certain rights of the King’s subjects, free or fettered, notably the writ of habeas corpus (appeal against unlawful imprisonment) and the right to due process.

17th Century

  • In 1689 the English Bill of Rights was signed.
  • It established that the King is subject to the rule of law, not the source of law’s divine authority alone.
  • It required the King to respect Parliament’s power to control the state’s money and property.
  • It protected basic rights to justice: excessive bail or fines, cruel and unusual punishments, unfair trials; guaranteed juries, impartial courts, and independent judges; and it echoed clauses from the Magna Carta.
  • It established the people’s preferred Protestant religion at a time when a Catholic King was viewed as a sovereignty risk to England.

18th Century – US and France

  • Two major revolutions occurred: the United States (1776) and France (1789).
  • Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776) set up fundamental rights and freedoms.
  • United States Declaration of Independence espouses natural rights and the famous line that all men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness: ext“thatallmenarecreatedequal,thattheyareendowedbytheirCreatorwithcertainunalienablerights,thatamongthesearelife,libertyandthepursuitofhappiness.”ext{“that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”}
  • French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen defines universal rights of the people; these rights are stated as universal to all men, not just French citizens, and are aspirational toward universality beyond its jurisdiction.

18th – 19th Centuries

  • Philosophers such as Thomas Paine, John Stuart Mill, and Hegel expanded on universality in the 18th and 19th centuries.
  • 1831: William Lloyd Garrison, in The Liberator, spoke of enlisting readers in "the great cause of human rights"; the term human rights probably came into general use around this time.
  • 1849: United States Supreme Court Justice David Davis wrote: "By the protection of the law, human rights are secured; withdraw that protection and they are at the mercy of wicked rulers or the clamor of an excited people."

20th Century

  • Many groups and movements achieved profound social changes in the name of human rights.
  • Western Europe and North America: labour unions secured rights to strike, minimum working conditions, and regulation/no child labour.
  • Women’s rights movement secured women's suffrage.
  • National liberation movements led to independence from colonial powers (e.g., Gandhi’s movement to free India from British rule).
  • Civil rights movements and identity politics movements advanced rights for women and minorities across the world.

21st Century

  • Page 17 lacks content in the transcript; this section may imply ongoing developments in human rights theory and practice in the 21st century.

International Humanitarian Law and the Geneva Conventions

  • The International Committee of the Red Cross and the 1864 Lieber Code laid the foundations of international humanitarian law (IHL), the first codification of the laws of war.
  • The Geneva Conventions consist of four treaties formulated in Geneva, Switzerland, that set the standards for international law for humanitarian concerns.

The Geneva Conventions (four treaties)

  • They primarily concern the treatment of non-combatants and prisoners of war; they do not address the use of weapons in war.
  • First signed in 1864; the four conventions address:
    • Convention I: Sick and wounded on land
    • Convention II: Sick and wounded at sea
    • Convention III: Prisoners of War
    • Convention IV: Civilians
  • These conventions have been revised and updated throughout the 20th and 21st centuries to reflect changes in warfare and humanitarian understandings.

The Hague Conventions

  • The Netherlands’ long-standing neutral status and its role as a host for international diplomacy led to the Hague Conventions.
  • The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 dealt with the regulations for the commencement of hostilities and the conduct of belligerents and neutral powers, and they prohibited certain types of weapons in warfare.

The League of Nations

  • After World War I, the Treaty of Versailles established two international organizations: The League of Nations and the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
  • The League’s goals included: disarmament; preventing war through collective security; settling disputes through negotiation and diplomacy; improving global welfare.
  • The League’s Charter enshrined a mandate to promote many of the rights later included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

The United Nations

  • At the 1945 Yalta Conference, the Allied Powers agreed to create a new body to take over the League’s role: the United Nations (UN).
  • The UN has played an important role in international human rights law since its creation.
  • Following the World Wars, the United Nations and its member states developed much of the discourse and the bodies of law that now make up international humanitarian law and international human rights law.

International Labour Organisation (ILO)

  • Goals:
    • Promoting social justice
    • Combatting social unrest
  • Differences from the League:
    • The ILO permits representatives of workers and employers from member states to participate in decision-making processes; the League allowed only state representatives.
  • Origin: developed originally as a standard-setting organization to advance the work of countries in the 18th/19th centuries.
  • Today: the ILO has an advisory and assistance mandate based on the standards it adopts.