Editing Human rights (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of human rights}}[[File:Us declaration independence.jpg|thumb|The [[United States Declaration of Independence]], unanimously ratified by the [[Second Continental Congress]] in [[Philadelphia]] on 4 July 1776]]

Many of the basic ideas that animated the [[human rights movement]] developed in the aftermath of the [[Second World War]] and the events of [[the Holocaust]],<ref name="twsGaryJBass">Gary J. Bass (book reviewer), Samuel Moyn (author of book being reviewed), 20 October 2010, The New Republic, [https://newrepublic.com/article/books-and-arts/magazine/78542/the-old-new-thing-human-rights The Old New Thing] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912121454/http://www.newrepublic.com/article/books-and-arts/magazine/78542/the-old-new-thing-human-rights|date=12 September 2015}}. Retrieved 14 August 2014</ref> culminating in the adoption of the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]] in Paris by the [[United Nations General Assembly]] in 1948.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Simmons |first=Beth A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EfQfAwAAQBAJ |title=Mobilizing for Human Rights: International Law in Domestic Politics |date=2009 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1139483483 |pages=23 |language=en}}</ref>

Ancient peoples did not have the same modern-day conception of universal human rights.{{sfnp|Freeman|2002|pp=15–17}} However, the concept has in some sense existed for centuries, although not in the same way as today.{{sfnp|Freeman|2002|pp=15–17}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sutto |first1=Marco |title=Human Rights Evolution, A Brief History |journal=The CoESPU Magazine |date=2019 |volume=2019 |issue=3 |pages=18–21 |doi=10.32048/Coespumagazine3.19.3 |url=https://www.coespu.org/articles/human-rights-evolution-brief-history |access-date=6 March 2023 |archive-date=6 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306154842/https://www.coespu.org/articles/human-rights-evolution-brief-history |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/edumat/hreduseries/hereandnow/Part-1/short-history.htm | title=A Short History of Human Rights | access-date=6 March 2023 | archive-date=6 March 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306154840/http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/edumat/hreduseries/hereandnow/Part-1/short-history.htm | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/international-human-rights-law-short-history | title=International Human Rights Law: A Short History | access-date=6 March 2023 | archive-date=14 March 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314173537/https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/international-human-rights-law-short-history | url-status=live }}</ref>

The true forerunner of human rights discourse was the concept of [[Natural and legal rights|natural rights]], which first appeared as part of the medieval [[natural law]] tradition. It developed in new directions during the European [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] with such philosophers as [[John Locke]], [[Francis Hutcheson (philosopher)|Francis Hutcheson]], and [[Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui]], and featured prominently in the political discourse of the [[American Revolution]] and the [[French Revolution]].<ref name=twsGaryJBass/> From this foundation, the modern human rights arguments emerged over the latter half of the 20th century,{{sfnp|Moyn|2010|p=8}} possibly as a reaction to slavery, torture, genocide, and war crimes.<ref name=twsGaryJBass/>

The medieval [[natural law]] tradition was heavily influenced by the writings of [[Paul the Apostle|St Paul's]] early Christian thinkers such as [[Hilary of Poitiers|St Hilary of Poitiers]], [[Ambrose|St Ambrose]], and [[Augustine of Hippo|St Augustine]].<ref>{{cite book|first=A. J.|last=Carlyle|title=A History of Medieval Political Theory in the West|volume=1|page=83|url=https://archive.org/details/ahistorymedival00carlgoog|location=New York|publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons|year=1903|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160608004930/https://archive.org/details/ahistorymedival00carlgoog|archive-date=8 June 2016}}</ref> Augustine was among the earliest to examine the legitimacy of the laws of man, and attempt to define the boundaries of what laws and rights occur naturally based on wisdom and conscience, instead of being arbitrarily imposed by mortals, and if people are [[An unjust law is no law at all|obligated to obey laws that are unjust]].<ref>{{cite web| url = https://lawexplores.com/the-philosophy-of-law-in-the-writings-of-augustine/#Fn23| title = Augustine on Law and Order — Lawexplores.com}}</ref>

The ''[[Kouroukan Fouga]]'' was the constitution of the [[Mali Empire]] in [[West Africa]]. It was composed in the 13th century, and was one of the very first charters on human rights. It included the "right to life and to the preservation of physical integrity" and significant protections for women.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Adewale |first1=Adeyinka |title=Pre-colonial Political Order in Africa |date=2023 |work=Reimaging Africa: Lifting the Veil of Ignorance |pages=9–38 |editor-last=Adewale |editor-first=Adeyinka |url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-40360-6_2 |access-date=2024-10-05 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer Nature Switzerland |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-031-40360-6_2 |isbn=978-3-031-40360-6 |last2=Schepers |first2=Stefan |editor2-last=Schepers |editor2-first=Stefan}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y2AFmBOiLRAC&dq=kouroukan+fouga+human+rights&pg=PA334 |title=Frontiers of Language and Teaching, Vol.2: Proceedings of the 2011 International Online Language Conference (IOLC 2011) |publisher=Universal-Publishers |isbn=978-1-61233-559-9 |language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|page=334}}

Spanish scholasticism insisted on a subjective vision of law during the 16th and 17th centuries: Luis de Molina, Domingo de Soto and Francisco Vitoria, members of the School of Salamanca, defined law as a moral power over one's own. Although they maintained at the same time, the idea of law as an objective order, they stated that there are certain natural rights, mentioning both rights related to the body (right to life, to property) and to the spirit (right to freedom of thought, dignity). The jurist Vázquez de Menchaca, starting from an individualist philosophy, was decisive in the dissemination of the term {{lang|la|iura naturalia}}. This natural law thinking was supported by contact with American civilizations and the debate that took place in Castile about the just titles of the conquest and, in particular, the nature of the indigenous people. In the Castilian colonization of America, it is often stated, measures were applied in which the germs of the idea of Human Rights are present, debated in the well-known [[Valladolid Debate]] that took place in 1550 and 1551. The thought of the School of Salamanca, especially through Francisco Vitoria, also contributed to the promotion of European natural law.

From this foundation, the modern human rights arguments emerged over the latter half of the 20th century.{{sfnp|Moyn|2010|p=8}} ''[[Magna Carta]]'' is an English charter originally issued in 1215 which influenced the development of the [[common law]] and many later constitutional documents related to human rights, such as the 1689 [[Bill of Rights 1689|English Bill of Rights]], the 1789 [[United States Constitution]], and the 1791 [[United States Bill of Rights]].<ref name="hazeltine">{{cite book |last1=Hazeltine |first1=H. D. |title=Magna Carta commemoration essays |date=1917 |publisher=BiblioBazaar |isbn=978-1116447477 |editor-last=Malden |editor-first=Henry Elliot |chapter=The Influence of Magna Carta on American Constitutional Development}}</ref>

17th century English [[philosopher]] [[John Locke]] discussed natural rights in his work, identifying them as being "life, liberty, and estate (property)", and argued that such [[fundamental rights]] could not be surrendered in the [[social contract]]. In Britain in 1689, the English [[Bill of Rights 1689|Bill of Rights]] and the Scottish [[Claim of Right Act 1689|Claim of Right]] each made a range of oppressive governmental actions, illegal.<ref>{{cite web |title=Britain's unwritten constitution |url=http://www.bl.uk/magna-carta/articles/britains-unwritten-constitution |publisher=British Library |access-date=27 November 2015 |quote=The key landmark is the Bill of Rights (1689), which established the supremacy of Parliament over the Crown ... providing for the regular meeting of Parliament, free elections to the Commons, free speech in parliamentary debates, and some basic human rights, most famously freedom from 'cruel or unusual punishment. |archive-date=8 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210908171308/https://www.bl.uk/magna-carta/articles/britains-unwritten-constitution |url-status=live }}</ref> Two major revolutions occurred during the 18th century, in the United States (1776) and in France (1789), leading to the [[United States Declaration of Independence]] and the French [[Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen]] respectively, both of which articulated certain human rights. Additionally, the [[Virginia Declaration of Rights]] of 1776 encoded into law a number of fundamental [[civil rights]] and civil freedoms.

{{blockquote|text=We hold these truths to be self-evident, 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.|source=''United States Declaration of Independence'', 1776}}

=== 1800 to World War I ===
[[File:Declaration of Human Rights.jpg|thumb|[[Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen]] approved by the National Assembly of France, 26 August 1789]]
Philosophers such as [[Thomas Paine]], [[John Stuart Mill]], and [[Hegel]] expanded on the theme of [[Universality (philosophy)|universality]] during the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1831, [[William Lloyd Garrison]] wrote in a newspaper called ''[[The Liberator (newspaper)|The Liberator]]'' that he was trying to enlist his readers in "the great cause of human rights",{{sfnp|Mayer|2000|p=110}} so the term ''human rights'' probably came into use sometime between Paine's ''The Rights of Man'' and Garrison's publication. In 1849 a contemporary, [[Henry David Thoreau]], wrote about human rights in his treatise ''[[Civil Disobedience (Thoreau)|On the Duty of Civil Disobedience]]'' which was later influential on human rights and civil rights thinkers. United States [[David Davis (Supreme Court justice)|Supreme Court Justice David Davis]], in his 1867 opinion for [[Ex Parte Milligan]], 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."<ref>{{cite web |title=''Ex Parte Milligan'', 71 U.S. 2, 119. (full text) |url=http://www.law.uchicago.edu/tribunals/docs/milligan.pdf |date=December 1866 |access-date=28 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307053820/http://www.law.uchicago.edu/tribunals/docs/milligan.pdf |archive-date=7 March 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Many groups and movements have managed to achieve profound social changes over the course of the 20th century in the name of human rights. In Western Europe and North America, [[trade union|labour union]]s brought about laws granting workers the right to strike, establishing minimum work conditions and forbidding or regulating [[child labor|child labour]]. The [[women's rights]] movement succeeded in gaining for many women the right to [[vote]]. [[National liberation]] movements in many countries succeeded in driving out colonial powers. One of the most influential was [[Mahatma Gandhi]]'s leadership of the [[Indian independence movement]]. Movements by long-oppressed racial and religious minorities succeeded in many parts of the world, among them the [[civil rights movement]], and more recent diverse [[identity politics]] movements, on behalf of women and minorities in the United States.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Crenshaw |first=Kimberle |date=1991 |title=Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1229039 |journal=Stanford Law Review |volume=43 |issue=6 |pages=1241–1299 |doi=10.2307/1229039 |jstor=1229039 |issn=0038-9765}}</ref>

The foundation of the [[International Committee of the Red Cross]], the 1864 [[Lieber Code]] and the first of the [[Geneva Conventions]] in 1864 laid the foundations of [[International humanitarian law]], to be further developed following the two World Wars.

=== Between World War I and World War II ===
The [[League of Nations]] was established in 1919 at the negotiations over the [[Treaty of Versailles]] following the end of [[World War I]]. The League's goals included disarmament, preventing war through collective security, settling disputes between countries through negotiation, diplomacy and improving global welfare. Enshrined in its Charter was a mandate to promote many of the rights which were later included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The League of Nations had mandates to support many of the former colonies of the Western European colonial powers during their transition from colony to independent state. Established as an agency of the League of Nations, and now part of United Nations, the [[International Labour Organization]] also had a mandate to promote and safeguard certain of the rights later included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR):

{{blockquote|text=the primary goal of the ILO today is to promote opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive work, in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity.|source=''Report by the Director General for the International Labour Conference 87th Session''}}

=== After World War II ===
==== Universal Declaration of Human Rights ====
{{main|Universal Declaration of Human Rights}}

[[File:Eleanor Roosevelt UDHR.jpg|right|thumb|"It is not a [[treaty]]... [In the future, it] may well become the international [[Magna Carta]]."<ref>{{cite web |title=Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human |url=https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/centres-institutes/bonavero-institute-human-rights/eleanor-roosevelt-and-universal-declaration-human |website=www.law.ox.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref> [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] with the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]] in 1949.]]

The [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]] (UDHR) is a non-binding declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948,<ref>(A/RES/217, 10 December 1948 at Palais de Chaillot, Paris)</ref> partly in response to the events of [[World War II]]. The UDHR urges member states to promote a number of human, civil, economic and social rights, asserting these rights are part of the "foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world". The declaration was the first international legal effort to limit the behavior of states and make sure they did their duties to their citizens following the model of the [[corelative|rights-duty duality]].

{{blockquote|text={{omission}} recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and [[inalienable rights]] of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world|source=''Preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights'', 1948}}

The UDHR was framed by members of the Human Rights Commission, with [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] as chair, who began to discuss an ''International Bill of Rights'' in 1947. The members of the Commission did not immediately agree on the form of such a bill of rights, and whether, or how, it should be enforced. The Commission proceeded to frame the UDHR and accompanying treaties, but the UDHR quickly became the priority.<ref name=Glendon>{{cite journal |title=The Rule of Law in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights |last=Glendon |first=Mary Ann |url=http://www.law.northwestern.edu/journals/jihr/v2/5/ |journal=Northwestern University Journal of International Human Rights |date=July 2004 |volume=2 |number=5 |access-date=7 January 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720014500/http://www.law.northwestern.edu/journals/jihr/v2/5/ |archive-date=20 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Canadian law professor [[John Peters Humphrey|John Humphrey]] and French lawyer [[René Cassin]] were responsible for much of the cross-national research and the structure of the document respectively, where the articles of the declaration were interpretative of the general principle of the preamble. The document was structured by Cassin to include the basic principles of dignity, liberty, equality and brotherhood in the first two articles, followed successively by rights pertaining to individuals; rights of individuals in relation to each other and to groups; spiritual, public and political rights; and [[economic, social and cultural rights]]. The final three articles place, according to Cassin, rights in the context of limits, duties and the social and political order in which they are to be realized.<ref name=Glendon/> Humphrey and Cassin intended the rights in the UDHR to be legally enforceable through some means, as is reflected in the third clause of the preamble:<ref name=Glendon/>

{{blockquote|text=Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law.|source=''Preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights'', 1948}}

Some of the UDHR was researched and written by a committee of international experts on human rights, including representatives from all continents and all major religions, and drawing on consultation with leaders such as [[Mahatma Gandhi]].{{sfnp|Glendon|2001}} The inclusion of both [[civil and political rights]] and economic, social, and cultural rights was predicated on the assumption that basic human rights are indivisible and that the different types of rights listed are inextricably linked.<ref name=Glendon/>{{sfnp|Ball|Gready|2007|p=34}} Although this principle was not opposed by any member states at the time of adoption (the declaration was adopted unanimously, with the abstention of the [[Soviet bloc]], [[apartheid]] South Africa, and [[Saudi Arabia]]), this principle was later subject to significant challenges.{{sfnp|Ball|Gready|2007|p=34}} On the issue of the term ''universal'', the declarations did not apply to domestic discrimination or racism.<ref>[[Paul Gordon Lauren]], "First Principles of Racial Equality: History and the Politics and Diplomacy of Human Rights Provisions in the United Nations Charter", ''Human Rights Quarterly'' 5 (1983): 1–26.</ref> Henry J. Richardson III argued:<ref>Henry J. Richardson III, "Black People, Technocracy, and Legal Process: Thoughts, Fears, and Goals", in ''Public Policy for the Black Community,'' ed. by Marguerite Ross Barnett and James A. Hefner (Port Washington, N.Y.: Alfred Publishing, 1976), p, 179.</ref>
:All major governments at the time of drafting the U.N. charter and the Universal declaration did their best to ensure, by all means known to domestic and international law, that these principles had only international application and carried no legal obligation on those governments to be implemented domestically. All tacitly realized that for their own discriminated-against minorities to acquire leverage on the basis of legally being able to claim enforcement of these wide-reaching rights would create pressures that would be political dynamite.

The onset of the [[Cold War]] soon after the UDHR was conceived brought to the fore divisions over the inclusion of both economic and social rights and civil and political rights in the declaration. Capitalist states tended to place strong emphasis on civil and political rights (such as freedom of association and expression), and were reluctant to include economic and social rights (such as the right to work and the right to join a union). Socialist states placed much greater importance on economic and social rights and argued strongly for their inclusion.{{sfnp|Ball|Gready|2007|p=35}} Because of the divisions over which rights to include and because some states declined to ratify any treaties including certain specific interpretations of human rights, and despite the Soviet bloc and a number of developing countries arguing strongly for the inclusion of all rights in a Unity Resolution, the rights enshrined in the UDHR were split into two separate covenants, allowing states to adopt some rights and derogate others. Although this allowed the covenants to be created, it denied the proposed principle that all rights are linked, which was central to some interpretations of the UDHR.{{sfnp|Ball|Gready|2007|p=35}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Human Rights and Human Wrongs |author=Littman, David G. |website=[[National Review]] |date=19 January 2003 |quote=The principal aim of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was to create a framework for a universal code based on mutual consent. The early years of the United Nations were overshadowed by the division between the Western and Communist conceptions of human rights, although neither side called into question the concept of universality. The debate centered on which "rights" – political, economic, and social – were to be included among the Universal Instruments |url=http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-littman011903.asp |access-date=7 January 2008 |archive-date=11 January 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080111120259/http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-littman011903.asp |url-status=live }}</ref> Although the UDHR is a non-binding resolution, it is now considered to be a central component of international [[customary law]] which may be invoked under appropriate circumstances by state judiciaries and other judiciaries.{{sfnp|Ball|Gready|2007|p={{page needed|date=May 2022}}}}

==== Human Rights Treaties ====
In 1966, the [[International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights]] (ICCPR) and the [[International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights]] (ICESCR) were adopted by the United Nations, between them making the rights contained in the UDHR binding on all states.{{efn|This does not include the Vatican, which although recognised as an independent state, is not a member of the UN.}} They came into force only in 1976, when they were ratified by a sufficient number of countries (despite achieving the ICCPR, a covenant including no economic or social rights, the US only ratified the ICCPR in 1992).{{sfnp|Ball|Gready|2007|p=37}} The ICESCR commits 155 state parties to work toward the granting of economic, social, and cultural rights (ESCR) to individuals.
{{clear}}

Numerous other treaties ([[International human rights instruments|pieces of legislation]]) have been offered at the international level. They are generally known as ''human rights instruments''. Some of the most significant are:
* [[Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide]] (adopted 1948, entry into force: 1951) [http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/p_genoci.htm unhchr.ch]
* [[Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination]] (CERD) (adopted 1966, entry into force: 1969) [http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/d_icerd.htm unhchr.ch]
* [[Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women]] (CEDAW) (entry into force: 1981) [http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/index.html Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women]
* [[United Nations Convention Against Torture]] (CAT) (adopted 1984, entry into force: 1984)<ref>{{Cite web|title= Convention against Torture|url=https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/cat.aspx |date=10 December 1984 |access-date=14 August 2021|website=OHCHR |archive-date=27 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130327135059/http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CAT.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Convention on the Rights of the Child]] (CRC) (adopted 1989, entry into force: 1989) [http://www.unicef.org/crc Convention on the Rights of the Child | UNICEF] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190426003630/https://www.unicef.org/crc/ |date=26 April 2019 }}
* [[United Nations Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families|International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families]] (ICRMW) (adopted 1990)
* [[Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court]] (ICC) (entry into force: 2002)

==== Including environmental rights ====
In 2021 the [[United Nations Human Rights Council]] officially recognized "having a clean, healthy and sustainable environment" as a human right.<ref>{{cite web |title=Access to a healthy environment, declared a human right by UN rights council |url=https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/10/1102582 |website=United Nations |date=8 October 2021 |access-date=21 April 2024}}</ref> In April 2024, the [[European Court of Human Rights]] ruled, for the first time in history, that the Swiss government had violated human rights by not acting strongly enough to stop climate change.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sharp |first1=Alexandra |title=Swiss Women Win Landmark Climate Victory |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/04/09/switzerland-human-rights-climate-change-case-court-ruling-women/ |website=Foreign Policy |access-date=21 April 2024}}</ref>