Human right has been subject to much debate in political theory. Human right has originated from the basic natural rights theories in the early modern era. Liberals such as Locke, Rousseau acknowledged the existence of inalienable natural rights even before they were recognized and acknowledged by any political authority. Locke identified right to ‘life, liberty and property’ as natural rights. Scholars such as Bentham have criticized that no such natural rights exist and dismissed it as ‘nonsense on stilts’. Human rights in the current sense have come to be accepted as a set of basic social, political and economic rights which each individual enjoys irrespective of their race, religion, nationality, gender, social class or whatever. They are rights enjoyed by humans by virtue of being humans. The recognition of such universal inalienable rights has evolved gradually through time.
The idea of rights and duties is intricately linked with that of the state. The competing claims of rights of individual and authority of state have been a cause of constant friction. While state authority is necessary to establish and maintain order and stability, individual rights enable them to develop their personality and realize their full potential. The recognition of some form of rights can be traced form ancient Greek and Roman political systems to that of Indian Panchayat systems. But these concepts are distinctly different from human rights paradigm which we recognize now.
Recognition of human rights provides a system of checks and balances against the abuse of authority and enshrine upon individuals in one form or the other fundamental rights and liberties. The most important events and revolutions that contributed to the development of human rights are many, a few are mentioned below.
British constitutional documents namely, Magna Carta (1215), the Petition of Rights (1628), and the Bill of Rights (1689). These documents were the forerunners of the modern human right tradition. They sought to reassert the customary rights enjoyed by Englishmen and gave concrete expression to what that meant. The English Revolution (1688) led to the eventual passage of Bill of Rights (1689).
The American Declaration of Independence, 1776 and the series of amendments to the US constitution, adopted in 1791 as American Bill of Rights gave recognition to the inalienable rights enjoyed by humans. This was a significant milestone insofar as most of the modern constitutions have incorporated similar provisions.
The American Bill of Rights drew inspiration from the French Revolution (1789) which was driven by ideals of ‘liberty, equality and fraternity’. Similarly the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the citizen (1789) expressed that, “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights”. They proclaimed that the aim of every political association was to preserve these natural rights of man.
The British, American and French documents gradually elaborated on important civil and political rights. In contrast, the October Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 brought to fore social, economic and cultural rights. Most modern constitutions have been shaped by similar spirit and incorporated safeguards. Nation states have tilted in favor of establishment of welfare states.
The process of evolving an “International Bill of Rights” began with the foundation of United Nations in 1945. In 1948, UN adopted the Universal Declaration of Human rights, which included civil-political and socio-economic rights in a single document. They included not only classical negative rights like the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion but also positive rights such as right to work and education. Since UN Declaration of Human Rights was not a legally binding document the UN subsequently adopted two covenants (one for civil-political rights another for socio-economic rights). The International covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights are legally binding on nations that adopt them. More than two-third of the global nations have ratified them.
Humanitarian intervention under the Responsibility to Protect has given shape to a global community which protects human rights. UN can sanction intervention to prevent genocides, ethnic cleansing and war crimes. Though a concrete framework has not yet evolved, they place human life at the core of global thought and relegate the concept sovereignty of nation states to secondary status.
The Human Rights paradigm has evolved from a limited negative rights conception to a holistic positive rights framework. Human rights framework views man as an end in himself and rejects the claim of absolute sovereignty of any authority. Currently, most nations have provided some form of the other recognition to these rights.
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