The Origin of Human Rights in the Face of Human Conflicts
-By SHRUTHI
Human rights are a certain set of human behaviour standards protected by national and international law. The only prerequisite for these rights is being a human. These are provided to all human beings, regardless of nationality, residence and gender identity, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language or any other status. Human rights are equally provided to all without any discrimination. This modern concept of equality was not always the case in past. The emergence of human rights is ideally believed to have begun in 539 BC. When the troops of Cyrus the Great took control of Babylon, Cyrus freed the slaves, declared that all people had the right to choose their religion, and established racial equality. These and other principles were recorded on a baked-clay cylinder known as the Cyrus Cylinder, whose provisions served as inspiration for the first four Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Another foundation of human rights in history is represented by spreading the idea of the Magna Carta in 1215 which led to the concept of the “rule of law” and an idea to maintain a set of rights and liberties which can act as a shield against random prosecution.
The English Bill of Rights which was signed into law in 1689 by William III and Mary II is seen as the evolution of the concepts of Magna Carta. It granted parliament power over the monarchy and some specific civil and constitutional rights have been stated in it. It is widely thought of as the law that established the basis for a constitutional monarchy in England and was a major influence for the U.S. Bill of Rights (1791).
People's rights have grown over time and since it’s foundation, The United Nations has made more than 20 laws to stop bad things like torture and genocide. These laws also help protect people like 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).
The idea of human rights has evolved over time in India, from the pre-independence period to the present day. Before independence, India was subject to foreign rule and was governed by the colonial laws of the British Raj. These colonial laws did not recognize the rights of Indian citizens and were often used to oppress them. After independence, India adopted a democratic form of government and the Indian Constitution was adopted in 1950. This constitution guaranteed the fundamental rights of all citizens, including the right to life and liberty, equality before the law, freedom of expression and the right to practice any religion. In the 1960s, the concept of human rights was further developed in India, with the introduction of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). These treaties were ratified by India in 1979 and gave rise to the concept of socio-economic rights.
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, adopted in 1789, by France’s National Assembly represents one of the basic charters of human liberties, containing the principles that inspired the French Revolution.
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