What are human rights?

Democracy

One of the ideas behind democracy is that it protects people's rights because people rule themselves rather than being under the power of someone else. Many democratic countries however, still commit significant human rights violations. A country is less democratic if human rights are not respected.

What are human rights?

Human rights are the ways in which all people should be treated. Human rights are based on the concept that all human beings are created equal and deserve equal treatment. Human rights include the belief that no one should be treated unfairly because of their ethnic background, religion, gender, age, socio-economic status, country of origin or any other discriminating factor.

Human rights require that every person's basic needs of food, water, shelter and clothing are met. Human rights also require that each person has an equal opportunity to develop naturally within a safe environment alongside other people. Human rights include both individual and collective rights. Collective rights include groups of people such as Indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities.

See image 1

Universal declaration of Human Rights

Human rights are listed in a United Nations document called the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In 1948, just after World War II, the United Nations made this list to educate the world's people to make sure traumatic events like those that had happened during the war would not happen again. The rights they listed were not new ideas but the Declaration brought them together in one document which set standards for all countries to follow.

See image 2

The Declaration begins by stating that all people, regardless of their race, age, religion, nationality or any other factor are entitled to the rights listed in the document. Some of these rights are things that society should provide for its members such as education, housing and a decent wage. A country's ability to provide these things depends on how wealthy it is. Other rights focus more on justice, which any person or country can offer their fellow human beings. Other documents

The United Nations has created other documents that focus on particular rights such as the Declaration on Race and Racial Prejudice, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.

Individual countries and organisations sometimes develop their own human rights documents which, like the Declaration, are used as a guide or a set of rules for the treatment of human beings.

Rights listed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

There are 30 items or 'articles' listed in the Declaration. They cover people's rights in areas such as work, family, property, the legal system, education, standard of living and religion. Others are concerned with more ideas like privacy, discrimination and democracy.

Personal freedom

The early articles relate to people's right to freedom. The Declaration states that no person should be kept as a slave or in similar conditions.

Freedom from cruelty

Article 5 of the Declaration states that 'no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment'. This is a broad item. Almost any country which violates human rights would be guilty of violating this particular article. An entire set of United Nations documents is concerned with this human right.

The law

A series of articles is concerned with people's rights before the law. These rights include the right to a public and fair trial, the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty and the right of each person to know the offence with which they have been charged. One article says that no one can be arrested, detained or exiled without good reason.

Privacy

This right covers the right of all people to privacy in their home, their family life and their correspondence (letters, phone calls and so on). It includes the right for people not to have their reputation attacked by others.

See image 3

Freedom of movement

The Declaration states that all people have the right to move freely within their country and to travel overseas. It also says that all people have the right to travel to other countries seeking protection, or asylum, if they are unsafe in their own country.

Marriage and family

Some of the rights say that all men and women have the right to start a family and to get married, but that no one should be forced to do so. People also have the right to own property.

Freedom of thought

A set of rights is concerned with freedom of thought, conscience, religion and speech. This includes the right to express one's thoughts or religion and to learn or communicate with others about it.

Democracy

These rights cover voting rights and include everyone's right to access public services like transport, education and health care in their country.

Work

These articles cover the conditions all people should have at work such as fair pay, holidays and the right to form unions. Another article states that all people have the right to a decent standard of living which includes welfare payments if they are unable to earn a wage.

Education

An article states that all people should have access to education, especially in primary school, and that higher education should be available on the basis of merit. It emphasises that education should include learning about human rights.

Responsibility

One of the last articles of the Declaration states that all human beings have the responsibility to make sure others are given these rights as well. No person can use their human rights against someone else, for example using the right to property as an excuse to steal someone else's property. This relates to the section on freedom of speech, which says that freedom of speech does not allow people to say whatever they like about others if by doing so they will cause harm.