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England
In Europe, assertions of individual rights evolved with the emergence of Nation-States.
The Magna Carta, first issued in 1215, was an early legal document that granted certain
rights to the English nobility by the King. The Magna Carta was reissued in different
forms and reinterpreted in England over several centuries. Many of its rules were about
the operation of feudal English society, though it influenced the development of rights in
the common law. One of its most important innovations was the right of free men not to
be imprisoned or punished except in accordance with the law.
In 1628, the English Parliament issued the Petition of Right, asserting further
limitations on the Kings power, including prohibiting arbitrary arrest or imprisonment
and interference with property rights.
Later, the parliament passed the English Bill of Rights (1689). The Bill of Rights was
mostly concerned with powers that could be exercised only by the parliament, not the
King, but included some individual rights, such as a prohibition on cruel and unusual
punishment.
Europe
Many early treaties mentioning individual rights concerned ethnic, religious or
linguistic minorities. In 1648 the Peace of Westphalia ended many years of war in
Europe and divided the continent into Nation-States, many of which are familiar today.
The peace treaties allowed the prince of each State to choose whether its national
religion would be Catholicism, Lutheranism or Calvinism, but provided for a limited
right of freedom of religion for other Christians living in that State.
At the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Austria, Prussia and Russia signed a declaration
stating that they would respect the nationality of their Polish subjects. This was one of
the first recorded formal recognitions in modern Europe of the right to an identity.
In the Treaty of Berlin (1878), the Balkan States that emerged after the disintegration of
the Ottoman Empire promised to respect the lives, property and religious liberties of
their citizens.
The peace treaties concluded at the end of the First World War included clauses
guaranteeing the protection of minorities. As national boundaries were redrawn, some
groups right to self-determination were recognised via a form of voting that allowed
them to elect which country they were to become parts of.
Protection of minorities became a condition of membership of the League of Nations,
and minority rights were thus guaranteed by the treaties which saw the establishment of
trust territories (administered by members of the League). These commitments proved
difficult to enforce.
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The French and American revolutions
In the 18th Century, declarations and bills of rights were an important feature of the
French Revolution and the American Revolution.
The American Declaration of Independence (1776) famously declared that men are
created equal and have certain unalienable rights. The United States (US) Constitution,
as concluded in 1789, recognised a right to habeas corpus (a petition to declare
innocence) and a right to trial by jury.
In the same year, the French Declaration on the Rights of Man and Citizen declared that
Men are born and remain free and equal in rights... these rights being liberty, property,
security, and resistance to oppression. The French Declaration, striking in its
resemblance to a modern bill of rights, contains many rights which are now a part of
international human rights law, including freedom of expression and the presumption
of innocence.
Two years later, in 1791, the US Constitution was amended to insert the US Bill of
Rights. This remains in force today and includes rights to freedom of religion,
expression and due process of law.

Contemporary international human rights law and the establishment of the United
Nations (UN) have important historical antecedents. Efforts in the 19th century to
prohibit the slave trade and to limit the horrors of war are prime examples. In 1919,
countries established the International Labor Organization (ILO) to
overseetreaties protecting workers with respect to their rights, including their health
and safety. Concern over the protection of certain minority groups was raised by the
League of Nations at the end of the First World War. However, this organization for
international peace and cooperation, created by the victorious European allies, never
achieved its goals. The League floundered because the United States refused to join and
because the League failed to prevent Japans invasion of China and Manchuria (1931)
and Italys attack on Ethiopia (1935). It finally died with the onset of the Second World
War (1939).
Adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December
1948 On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and
proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the full text of which appears in
the following pages. Following this historic act the Assembly called upon all Member
countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and to cause it to be disseminated,
displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions,
without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories.
Subsequent Human Rights Documents
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In addition to the covenants in the International Bill of Human Rights, the United
Nations has adopted more than 20 principal treaties further elaborating human rights.
These include conventions to prevent and prohibit specific abuses like torture
and genocide and to protect especially vulnerable populations, such as refugees
(Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, 1951), women (Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979), and
children (Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989). As of 1997 the United
States has ratified only these conventions:

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of

Genocide

The Convention on the Political Rights of Women

The Slavery Convention of 1926

The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading

Treatment or Punishment

In Europe, the Americas, and Africa, regional documents for the protection and
promotion of human rights extend the International Bill of Human Rights. For example,
African states have created their own Charter of Human and Peoples Rights (1981), and
Muslim states have created the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (1990). The
dramatic changes in Eastern Europe, Africa, and Latin America since 1989 have
powerfully demonstrated a surge in demand for respect of human rights. Popular
movements in China, Korea, and other Asian nations reveal a similar commitment to
these principles.
Preamble
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and unalienable rights
of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in
the world,
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts
which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which
human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want
has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

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Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last
resort, to rebellion against tyranny and opression, that human rights should be
protected by the rule of law,
Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between
nations,
Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their
faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in
the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and
better standards of life in larger freedom,
Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in cooperation with
the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human
rights and fundamental freedoms,
Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest
importance for the full realization of this pledge,
Now, therefore, The General Assembly, Proclaims this Universal Declaration of
Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to
the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration
constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these
rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure
their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of
Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.
Article 1
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed
with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of
brotherhood.
Article 2
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration,
without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or
other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political,
jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person
belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any /other
limitation of sovereignty.
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Article 3
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 5
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment.
Article 6
Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

Article 7
All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal
protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in
violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
Article 8
Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals
for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.
Article 12
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or
correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right
to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
Article 18
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right
includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in
community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in
teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Article 25
2. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All
children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
Article 28

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Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and
freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.
Article 29
2. In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such
limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition
and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements
of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
3. These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes
and principles of the United Nations.

Article 30
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or
person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction
of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

References :(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(v)

http://www.cirp.org/library/ethics/UN-human/
https://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/edumat/hreduseries/hereandnow/Part1/short-history.htm
http://www.jus.uio.no/lm/un.universal.declaration.of.human.rights.1948/p
ortrait.a4.pdf
https://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/what-universal-declarationhuman-rights
http://www.humanrights.com/what-are-human-rights/brief-history/cyruscylinder.html

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