brief history of human rights

How Did Human Rights Develop?

• The concept of human rights dates back over 2,500 years.
  
  

• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was not the beginning; the tradition of human rights has evolved over a long period before 1948.
  
  

1. The Cyrus Cylinder (539 B.C.E.)

• Cyrus the Great, the first King of Persia, conquered Babylon and took significant steps to promote human rights:
  
  

  • Freed the slaves.
    
    

  • Declared that all people had the right to choose their religion.
    
    

  • Established racial equality.
    
    

• These decrees were recorded on a baked-clay cylinder with script from that time, known as the Cyrus Cylinder, which is considered the first human rights charter.
  
  

• It was translated into 6 official UN languages and influenced the first four articles of the UDHR.
  
  

2. Natural Law

• The concept of human rights spread from Babylon to India, Greece, and Rome.
  
  

• The idea of Natural Law emerged, based on the observation that people tended to follow unwritten laws in their lives.
  
  

• Roman Law was built on rational ideas derived from the nature of things, influencing later documents on human rights.
  
  

3. Magna Carta (1215)

• The Magna Carta, also known as the “Great Charter,” is one of the most influential documents in the development of constitutional law.
  
  

• In 1215, King John of England was forced to sign the Magna Carta after violating several laws and customs governing the English.
  
  

• It contained important rights:
  
  

  • The right of the Church to be free from government interference.
    
    

  • Property rights for all citizens and protection from excessive taxes.
    
    

  • The right of widows who owned property to choose not to remarry.
    
    

  • Principles of due process and equality before the law.
    
    

• The Magna Carta is viewed as one of the most important legal documents in the establishment of freedom.
  
  

4. Petition of Right (1628)

• The Petition of Right was produced by the English Parliament in 1628 in response to King Charles I.
  
  

  1. It was a response to the King's unpopular foreign policies, which led to forced loans, the quartering of soldiers, and arbitrary arrests.
     
     

• The Petition outlined four key principles:
  
  

  1. No taxes may be levied without Parliament's consent.
     
     

  2. No one may be imprisoned without cause.
     
     

  3. Soldiers cannot be quartered on citizens.
     
     

  4. Martial law cannot be used during peace times.
     
     

5. United States Declaration of Independence (1776)

• Written on July 4, 1776, by key figures including Thomas Jefferson.
  
  

• The Declaration emphasized two key ideas:
  
  

  1. Individual rights.
     
     

  2. Right of revolution.
     
     

• These ideas became central to American ideals and influenced the French Revolution.
  
  

6. The Constitution of the United States (1787) and the Bill of Rights (1791)

• The U.S. Constitution, written in 1787, defines the structure of the U.S. federal government and is the oldest written constitution still in use.
  
  

• The Bill of Rights, which came into effect on December 15, 1791, contains the first ten amendments to the Constitution.
  
  

  • Rights protected:
    
    

    • Freedom of speech, religion, assembly, petition, and bearing arms.
      
      

  • Prohibitions:
    
    

    • Unreasonable searches, cruel and unusual punishment, and compelled self-incrimination.
      
      

  • Legal protections:
    
    

    • Prohibits Congress from establishing a religion.
      
      

    • Ensures due process before depriving anyone of life, liberty, or property.
      
      

    • Guarantees speedy public trials and protection against double jeopardy.
      
      

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

• The French Revolution of 1789 led to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, written shortly after the storming of the Bastille.
  
  

• It proclaimed that all citizens are guaranteed rights to:
  
  

  • Liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.
    
    

• The Declaration emphasized that the exercise of natural rights should not interfere with others' enjoyment of those same rights.
  
  

8. The First Geneva Convention (1864)

• In 1864, 16 European countries and several American states met in Geneva, Switzerland, to adopt the Geneva Convention for the treatment of wounded soldiers in combat.
  
  

• Key principles:
  
  

  • Wounded and sick military personnel must be cared for without discrimination.
    
    

  • Medical personnel and their transports should be marked with the Red Cross.
    
    

9. The United Nations (1945)

• After the devastating effects of World War II, 50 countries met in San Francisco in April 1945 to establish the United Nations (UN).
  
  

• The goal was to create an organization to promote peace and prevent future wars.
  
  

• The UN Charter went into effect on October 24, 1945, which is celebrated as United Nations Day.
  
  

10. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

• In 1948, the UN Human Rights Commission, chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
  
  

  • Adopted by the UN on December 10, 1948.
    
    

  • Proclaimed the inherent rights of all human beings, stating that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”.
    
    

• The 30 articles of the UDHR were the first time human rights were codified into a single document.
  
  

  • Member states of the UN pledged to work together to promote these rights.
    
    

  • Many of these rights are now part of the constitutional laws of democratic nations.