HUMAN RIGHTS FUNDAMENTALS

HUMAN RIGHTS FUNDAMENTALS

What are Human Rights?

Human rights are the rights a person has simply because he or she is a human being.

●        Human rights are held by all persons equally, universally, and forever.

●        Human rights are inalienable: you cannot lose these rights any more than you can cease being a human being.

●        Human rights are indivisible: you cannot be denied a right because it is “less important” or “non-essential”. Human rights are interdependent: all human rights are part of a complementary framework. For example, your ability to participate in your government is directly affected by your right to express yourself, to get an education, and even to obtain the necessities of life. Your ability to live life under a humane condition directly affects your right to life. Your right to education enables you enjoy rights to freedom of expression.

Another definition for human rights is those basic standards without which people cannot live in dignity. To violate someone’s human rights is to treat that person as though she or he were not a human being. To advocate human rights is to demand that the human dignity of all people be respected.

In claiming these human rights, everyone also accepts the responsibility not to infringe on the rights of others and to support those whose rights are abused or denied. Also, every one has the duty to maintain social and public peace and uphold the good of the community to which he or she belongs.

Human Rights as Inspirational Empowerment

Human rights are both inspirational and practical. Human rights principles hold up the vision of a free, just, and peaceful world and set minimum standards for how individuals and institutions everywhere should treat people. Human rights also empower people with a framework for action when those minimum standards are not met, for people still have human rights even if the laws or those in power do not recognize or protect them.

We experience (exercise) our human rights every day when we move about our daily business when we worship according to our belief, or choose not to worship at all, when we debate and criticize government policies; when we join a trade union; when we travel to other parts of the country or overseas. Although we usually take these actions for granted, many people both in Nigeria and in the other places including Europe and United States do not enjoy all these liberties equally. Human rights violations also occur everyday around us when a parent abuses a child, when a family is homeless, when a school provides

inadequate education, when women are paid less than men, when one person steals from another, when a person is arrested and detained more than 2 days without arraignment or two months without trial, when a husband beats his wife, or when somebody is evicted without court order.

Each country of the world tries to uphold or claims to uphold that it respects human rights of its citizens. Human rights are now an important diplomatic tool as situation of human rights in one country affects the peace and development of that country and other countries around it.

Internationalisation of Human Rights

Rights for all members of human family were first articulated in 1948 in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Following the horrific experiences of the Holocaust and World War II, and amid the grinding poverty of much of the world’s population, many people sought to create a document that would capture the hopes, aspirations, and protections to which every person in the world was entitled and ensure that the future of humankind would be different.

The 30 articles of the Declaration together from a comprehensive statement covering economic, social, cultural, political, and civil rights. The document is both universal (it applies to all people everywhere) and indivisible (all rights are equally important to the full realization of one” humanity). As a declaration, however, it is not a treaty and lacks any enforcement provisions. Rather, it is a statement of intent, a set of principles to which United Nations member states commit themselves in an effort to provide people a life of human dignity.

Over the past 50 years the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has acquired the status of customary international law because most states treat it as though it were law. However, governments have not applied this customary law equally. Under the cold war era, socialist and communist countries of Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Asia had emphasized social welfare rights, such as education, jobs, and health care, but often have limited the political rights of their citizens. They focused on political and civil rights and advocated strongly against regimes that torture, deny religious freedom, or persecute minorities. Western capitalist countries on the other hand had recognized health care, homelessness, environmental pollution, and other social and economic concerns as human rights issues especially within its own borders.

Across the world, a movement is rising to challenge this narrow definition of human rights and to restore social, economic, and cultural rights to their rightful place on the human rights agenda. The right to eat is as fundamental as the right to tortured or jailed without charges.

THEORIES OF HUMAN RIGHTS

There are several philosophical theories on origin and basis of human rights.

Natural Law Theory

The earliest is the Natural Law Theory. The natural law theory draws inspiration from nature and posits that there is a law of nature which regulates all things in the universe and which can only be discovered through reasoning. These laws of nature are universal, immutable. Natural law theories root from the ancient Greek philosophers, such as Socrates, the Stoics and early Roman thinkers.

Social Contract Theory

Social contract theorists posit that human being had lived in a state of nature which was “brutal, nasty and short”. Now, everyone agreed to surrender part of his or her right to the government for the good of the common wealth, but retains the basic human rights which the state also contracted to uphold. Prominent social contract theories are Rousseau, Hobbes, Locke etc.

Evolutionary Theory

Historians and evolutionary theorists contested the universality and immutability of natural law theory, and sought to explain law by reference to dynamism of each society. Human rights and law in general develops with the society and what are human rights in a society at a time depends on the level of evolution of that society.

Positivist Theory

Legal positivists posit that human rights are purely what the State codifies in the bill of rights. Law is simply the command of the sovereign and backed by sanction. According to the positivists, international law is not law because it lacks sanction and sovereign command.

The attached Human Rights Time Line shows that human rights concept is also as human history. In all aspects of our daily lives, and relationship within our clients and in courts, we experience violations of human rights.

Evolution of Modern Human Rights Law

Human rights began to have international importance after the Second World War in 1945.The World War II was therefore the catalyst that propelled international human rights movement.

Throughout much of history, people acquired rights and responsibilities through their membership in a group – a family, indigenous nation, religion, class, community, or state. Most societies have had traditions similar to the “golden rule” of “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. The Hindu Vedas, the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi, the Bible, the Quoran (Koran), and the Analects of Confucius are five of the oldest written sources which address questions of people’s duties, rights, and responsibilities. In addition, the Inca and Aztec codes of conduct and justice and Iroquois Constitution were Native American sources, whether in oral or written tradition, have had systems of propriety and justice as well as ways of tending to the health and welfare of their members.

Every African society has customary or traditional rules that regulate lives of people and which imbibe human rights concepts, e.g. unlawful killing attracts the wrath of the society and restitution were used to redress violations of other people’s rights.

Precursors of 20^th Century Human Rights Documents

Documents asserting individual rights such as the Magna Carta (1215), the English Bill of Rights (1689), the French Declaration on the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789), and the US Constitution and Bill of Rights (1791) are the written prosecutors to many of today’s human rights documents. Yet many of these documents, when originally translated into policy, excluded women and members of certain social, religious, economic, and political groups. Nevertheless, oppressed people throughout the world have drawn on the principles these documents express to support revolutions that assert the right to self-determination.

Contemporary international human rights law and the establishment of the United Nations (UN) have important historical antecedents. Efforts in the 19^th century to prohibit the slave trade and to limit the horrors of war are prime examples. In 1919, countries established the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to oversee treaties 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 organisation 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 Japan’s invasion of China and Manchuria (1931) and Italy’s attack on Ethiopia (1935). It finally died with the onset of the Second World War (1939).

The Birth of the United Nations

The idea of human rights emerged stronger after World War II. The extermination by Nazi Germany of over six million Jews, Sinti and Roman (gypsies), homosexuals, and persons with disabilities horrified the world. Trials were held in Nuremberg and Tokyo after World War II, and officials from the defeated countries were punished for committing war crimes, “crimes against peace”, and “crimes against humanity”.

Governments then committed themselves to establishing the United Nations, with the primary goal of bolstering international peace and preventing conflict. People wanted to ensure that never again would anyone be unjustly denied life, freedom, food, shelter, and nationality. The essence of these emerging human rights principles was captured in President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union Address when he spoke of a world founded on four essential freedoms:  freedom of speech and religion and freedom from want and fear. The calls came from across the globe for human rights standards to protect citizens from abuses by their governments, standards against which nations could be held accountable for the treatment of those living within their borders. These voices played a critical role in the San Francisco meeting that drafted the United Nations Charter in 1945.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Members States of the United Nations pledged to promote respect for the human rights of all. To advance this goal, the UN established a Commission on Human Rights and charged it with the task of drafting a document spelling out the meaning of the fundamental rights and freedoms proclaimed in the Charter.

On December 10, 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted by the 56 members of the United Nations. The vote was unanimous, although eight nations chose to abstain.

The UDHR, commonly referred to as the international Magna Carta, extended the revolution in international law ushered in by the United Nations Charter – namely, that how a government treats its own citizens is now a matter of legitimate international concern, and not simply a domestic issue. It claims that all rights are interdependent and indivisible. Its preamble eloquently assets that:

           

            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.    

The influence of the UDHR has been substantial. Its principles have been incorporated into the constitutions of most of the more that 185 nations now in the UN. Although a declaration is not a legally binding document, the Universal Declaration has achieved the status of customary international law because people regard it “as a common standard of achievement for all people and all nations”.

The Human Rights Covenants

With the goal of establishing mechanisms for enforcing the UDHR, the UN Commission on Human Rights proceeded to draft two treaties: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and its optional Protocol and the International Covenant on Economics, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Together with the Universal Declaration, they are commonly referred to as the International Bill on Human Rights. The ICCPR focuses on such issues as the right to life, freedom of speech, religion, and voting. The ICESCR focuses on such issues as food, education, health, and shelter. Both covenants trumpet the extension of rights to all persons and prohibit discrimination.

As of 1997, over 130 nations including Nigeria have ratified these covenants.

Subsequent Human Rights Documents

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 People’s 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.

The Role of Non-governmental Organisations

Globally, the champions of human rights have most often been citizens, not government officials. In particular, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have played a cardinal role in focusing the international community on human rights issues. For example, NGO activities surrounding the 1995 United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, drew unprecedented attention to serious violations of the human rights of women. NGOs such as Amnesty International, the Antislavery Society, the International Commission of Jurists, the International Working Group on Indigenous Affairs, Human Rights Watch, Civil Liberties Organisation, Legal Defence and Assistance Project. Etc.

Government officials who understand the human rights framework can also effect far reaching change for freedom.

Human rights is an idea whose time has come. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a call to freedom and justice for people throughout the world. Every day governments that violate the rights of their citizens are challenged and called to task. Everyday human beings worldwide mobilise and confront injustice and inhumanity. Like drops of water falling on a rock, they wear down the forces of oppression and move the world closer to achieving the principles expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere -Martin Luther King

Principal Human Rights Conventions   

●          Conventions on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, 1948 (R)

●          Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of

            the Prostitution of others, 1949

●          Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, 1951 (R)

●          Slavery Convention of 1926, Amended by Protocol, 1953 (R)

●          Convention on the Political Rights of women, 1953

●        Convention on the Nationality of Married Women, 1957

●        Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, 1961

●        Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage, and Registration of

            Marriages, 1962

●        International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 (R)

●        International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination, 1966 (R)

●        Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crime

Crimes Against Humanity, 1968

●        International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime Apartheid, 1973 (R)

●        Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979 (R)

●        Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment Punishment, 1984 (S)

●        Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989 (R)

●        Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers and the Members of their Families, 1990 (R)

R-Ratified by Nigeria

S-Signed by Nigeria

Note:    Date refers to the year the UN General Assembly adopted the convention.

Human Rights Time Line

c.         1750 B.C.E. –Code of Hammurabi, Babylonia

c.         1200 – c. 300 B.C.E. –Old Testament

c.         551 – c. 479 B.C.E. – Confucius – “Do unto others what you wish to do unto yourself”.

c.         40 – 100 C.E. – New Testament

644 – 656 C. E. – Koran (original text)

1215    -           Magna Carta, England

1400    -           Code of Netzahualcoyotl, Aztec

1648    -           Treaty of Westphalia, Europe

1689    -           English Bill of Rights, England

1776    -           Declaration of Independence, United States

1787    -           United States Constitution

1789    -           French Declaration on the Rights of Man and the Citizen, France

1791    -           United States Bill of Rights

1863    -           Emancipation Proclamation, United States

1864, 1949-     Geneva Conventions, International Red Cross

1919    -           League of Nations Covenant

1926    -           Slavery Convention

1945    -           United Nations Charter, San Francisco

1947    -           Mohandas Gandhi uses non-violent protests leading India to Independence

1948    -           Universal Declaration of Human Rights (December 10)

            -           American Declaration of the Right and Duties of Man

            -           Genocide Convention

1950    -           European Convention

1951    -           Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees

1959    -           Declaration on the Rights of Children

1961    -           Amnesty International founded in London

1965    -           International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

1966    -           International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

            -           International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights

1969    -           American Convention on Human Rights

1973    -           International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid

1979    -           International Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women

1984    -           International Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, inhumane, or Degrading

Treatment or Punishment.

1986    -           African Charter on Human and People’s Rights

1989    -           International Convention on the Tights of the Child

1992    -           Rigoberta Menchu receives the Nobel Peace of Prize for her struggle for the rights of

indigenous peoples in Guatemala and around the world

 1993   -           Declaration on Violence Against Women

            -           Declaration on the Rights of indigenous Peoples

            -           United nations World Conference on Human Rights, Vienna, Austria

Human Rights Time Line – Expanded Descriptions

The Code of Hammurabi - c, 1750 B.C.E.

Hammurabi was a ruler of Babylonian – one of several rival Mesopotamian kingdoms – whose reign marked a golden age of Semitic culture. Hammurabi eventually conquered the other Mesopotamian Kingdoms, and issued a law code “to establish justice throughout Mesopotamia”.

Clay tablet records show that Hammurabi was a scrupulous, able administrator. His code – one of the earliest legal documents – influenced Near Eastern civilization for centuries. It consolidated earlier regulations (of the formal rival kingdoms Akkad and Sumer) or practical aspects of trade, labour, property, family, slavery, trade, and the “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” punishment. The Code of Hammurabi survives in a stone column discovered in Iran in 1901 (now in Paris), and in clay tablet versions. Probably originally posted to inform literate citizen of their rights.

Old Testament – c, 1200 – c, 300 B.C.E.

Unlike most ancient peoples, who worshipped many gods, ancient Israelites worshipped one universal God. They saw history as an interaction between God and humanity, whose course depended on obedience to God’s laws. The Hebrew Scriptures – 39 books by many authors – recorded the law the Israelites believed their Gods gave them. Christian and Muslims also founded their ethics on the Hebrew Scriptures. Christians know it as the Old Testament. Muslims regard the first five books, the Torah, as divine scripture.

The Torah contains laws God is said to have given to the Hebrew prophets, beginning with the mosaic laws – the Ten Commandments – given to Moses on Mount Sinai. The mosaic laws commanded respect for life and the property of strangers as well as neighbours by establishing rights in terms of duties (the right to life, for example, was expressed in the commandment not to kill). The asylum tradition in churches and synagogues and the principle that one is innocent until proven guilty also originate in Jewish law.

Confucius – c, 551 –c, 479 B.C.E.

Living in politically and socially turbulent times, Confucius was a philosopher who taught government and social reform. His philosophical teachings revolved around “jen” or benevolence, which he expressed in twin sayings: “Do not do to others what you would not like yourself’ and “Do unto others what you wish to do unto yourself”. He believed that people should practice jen towards those below them in a social or spiritual hierarchy and that government should practice jen rather than use force. His own employment in government was troubled by disagreements with his superiors.

Confucius’ teachings, collected in his Analects and spread by 3000 disciples, became a code of conduct and the basis of a traditional way of life that made him the most influential philosopher in Chinese history. Confician teachings emphasising the individual’s responsibilities to the community remain influential to this day in China and other Asian countries.

New Testament – c, 40 – 100 C.E.

Jesus’ followers, scattered around the Roam Empire, wrote letters and accounts of his life, which were circulated among early Christian churches. These became the New Testament, in which Jesus is reported to have quoted the Old Testament. “The Spirit of the Lord is in me…to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to [invite all to God’s kingdom]”. He then claimed he fulfilled those words.

The New Testament says Jesus angered religious leaders by denouncing hypocrisy, healing the sick, and treating women, foreigners, and the poor with dignity. The Apostle Paul, who wrote some New Testament books in prison, said that among Jesus’ followers, “there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male or female”. The New Testament also says that Jesus taught that rights come together with responsibilities. He urged his followers to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and forgive their enemies.

Margna Carta – 1215

English nobles and clergy rallied against King John I’s abuse of power – heavy taxation to finance expensive, unsuccessful wars, and his refusal to accept papal authority, which effectively kept churches closed for years. They subjected the King to the rule of law by enacting from him a “great charter” of liberties.

Though King John I soon violated it, the Magna Carta eventually came to be cited widely, in defence of many liberties. The U.S. national and state constitutions contain ideas and even phrases directly traceable to it – for example, the concept of no taxation without representation. Clause 39, which stated that “no free man shall be arrested or imprisoned… [or dispossessed] except by… lawful judgement”, became known as the right of habeas corpus, or due process of law.

Treaty of Westphalia – 1648

For centuries after Augustine, the Roman Catholic Church was the unique Christian authority in Europe. However, the church became plagued by depravity and an inability to satisfy its followers’ spiritual needs, and in the 1500’s, a reform movement spread. This reformation and a Catholic Counter-Reformation, along with sovereignty disputes, racked most of Europe for a century.

These wars were finally ended by the Treaty of Westphalia (named for the region of Germany where it was signed). The Treaty led to the modern notion of national sovereignty by freeing state rulers from Catholic Church jurisdiction. It allowed rulers to choose their subjects’ religion, but put an end to the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation by specifying that rules would forfeit their lands if they changed religions. The Treaty also took a step toward religious toleration by allowing Catholic or Protestant minorities in some states rights to private worship, liberty of conscience, and emigration.

English Bill of Rights – 1689

James II, like several Kings before him, thought the law inconvenient and often dispensed with it. For this his subjects overthrew him in 1688, and when Mary II and William III took the throne in 1689, Parliament passed a bill declaring that it would no longer tolerate royal interference in its affairs. The bill became part of the foundation of the English constitution, and in the following century, most English took pride in the freedom its provisions gave them from arbitrary government.

The bill forbade royalty to suspend law without Parliament’s consent, specified free elections for members of Parliament, and declared that freedom of speech in Parliament was not to be questioned, in the courts or elsewhere. The bill also prohibited taxation or maintenance of an army in peacetime without Parliament’s consent, excessive bail or fines, and cruel and unusual punishment.

United States Declaration of Independence – 1776

Calling themselves the Continental Congress, representatives of Britain’s 13 colonies first convened in 1774 to protest British policies. When they convened again after the American Revolution had begun, they voted for independence from Britain and adopted the Declaration of Independence, becoming the first government of the 13 United States. The Declaration had far-reaching and lasting influence on individual rights in Western civilisation, inspiring rebellion against Spanish rule in South America and against monarchy in France.

Because of his literacy skill, Thomas Jefferson was chosen to write the Declaration. Based largely on Locke’s and Montesquieu’s “natural rights” theories, it listed the colonists’ grievances against King George, accusing him of systematic tyranny; announced the colonies’ separation from Great Britain; proclaimed the creation of the United States, and justified the revolution. The Congress rejected two passages, in which Jefferson searingly the slave trade and defamed the English people.

United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights – 1787, 1791

Faced with teetering economies and armed revolt, 12 of the new states sent delegates to rethink the 1781 constitution.  At the convention, the delegates (in their 20’s or 30’s, but led by veterans James Madison and George Washington) centralised and strengthened the government while aiming to limit its power enough to guarantee individual liberty.

The 1781 constitution replaced the almost powerless Continental Congress with three branches of government and provided for checks and balances among them. Twenty-six amendments to the Constitution have established specific rights (the Bill of Rights, contributed by antifederalists including Jefferson, contains the first 10). Adaptable, as one justice remarked, “to various crises of human affairs” through judicial reinterpretation, the Constitution is now the oldest in operation and one of the most influential documents in Western history.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen – 1789

Since the 1730’s, economic decline and the ideas of the Enlightenment had been spreading in France simultaneously, and the success of the American Revolution had infused French reformers with hope. The Estates General (representatives of the clergy, nobility, and the commoners) wrote the Declaration to exemplify the thoughts of Enlightenment figures such as Voltaire, Montesquieu, the Encyclopedists, and Rousseau.

Though the reform efforts failed and France tumbled into revolution, the Declaration legacy eventually prevailed’ It attacked the political and legal systems of the monarchy and defined the natural rights of men as “liberty, property, security, and the right to resist oppression”. The Declaration replaced the system of aristocratic privileges that had existed under the monarchy with the principle of equality before the law.

Emancipation Proclamation – 1863

The Civil War started in 1861 as a Northern struggle to keep the United States from breaking apart. Abolitionists were a minority; Abraham Lincoln did not champion slaves’ moral claims to freedom and could never have been elected president on a platform of abolishing slavery. But once the Southern states seceded, the political purpose of accommodating slavery disappeared, and as deaths mounted and volunteering declined. Pressure grew to enlist blacks. Just two years later, when Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, the North had transformed the war into a crusade top free Southern slaves.

Because it applied only to territories in Confederate possession – taking effect only as Northern lines advanced – the Proclamation at first freed no slaves at all. Its importance lay in opening the door to black army enlistment – which shocked many and aided the North’s victory – and to passage of the thirteenth amendment, which outlawed slavery nationwide in 1865.

Geneva Conventions – 1864, 1949

Brought into being by the newly created International Red Cross, the Geneva Convention of 1864 was the first international law treaty governing the conduct of nations in wartime, and so marks the origin of modern humanitarian and human rights law. The Convention created provisions for the treatment of sick and wounded soldiers.

The Convention was revised and amended several times, and the current version, approved in 1949 after World War II, comprises four separate conventions. The first and second deal with the care of the sick and wounded in land and maritime warfare; the third deals with the treatment of prisoners of war, and the fourth deals with the protection of civilians and noncombatants. Together, the four Geneva Conventions aim to ensure that human dignity is respected even during hostilities. Their provisions continue to be monitored and enforced by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi – 1869 – 1948

Gandhi began his career in South Africa, where he practiced law and agitated against racism directed at Indians. There he developed his tactics of non-violent confrontation based on the principle of respect for life; he called his strategy “satygraha” (truth force). Later, in India, after a massacre by the British, Gandhi led a series of satyagraha campaigns until India achieved independence in 1947.

Gandhi’s campaigns alternated with imprisonment. His “constructive program” consisted of movements against class discrimination and Muslim-Hindu unity, women’s rights, and basic education.

Later called Mahatma (great soul), Gandhi was assassinated by a religious fanatic. His influence has been felt around the world – notably in South Africa and the United States, where major civil rights movements based on his ideas were later carried out.

The United Nations Charter – 1945

The U.N. Charter was signed by 52 nations in the postwar climate of 1945. It established an international organisation dedicated to maintaining peace and security and to cooperate in solving economic, social, cultural, and humanitarian problem. Although it affirmed “faith in fundamental human rights”, its signatories disagreed on the nature of these human rights. The first U.N. conference therefore rejected a proposal to include protection of human rights as an article of the Charter.

The Charter gives the U.N. General Assembly and its Commission on Human Rights primary responsibility for promoting human rights. The Commission was instrumental in creating declarations and covenants on human rights, including civil, political, economic, Social, and cultural rights. Although not legally enforceable, these documents are used to interpret the human rights provisions of the U.N. Charter.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights – 1948

Because representatives at the U.N. conference in 1945 wrestled with reconciling their various conceptions of human rights, the clauses relating to human rights that were finally included in the U.N. Charter were very ambiguous. The U.N. assigned a Commission, with Eleanor Roosevelt as chairperson, to clarify the Charter’s references to human rights. The result was a statement of universal goals concerning human rights and freedoms, which was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1948. The Declaration is not legally binding, but its content has been incorporated into many national constitutions, and it has become a standard measure of human rights.

Debates over the priority of individuals’ political and civil rights versus social and economic rights made drafting the Declaration a long and arduous process. Socialist nations supported primacy of the latter. Many of the Eastern-bloc countries abstained from voting; Saudi Arabia objected to religious freedom; and South Africa objected to racial equality.

*The above definitions are taken from the Amnesty International Interactive CD ROM.