Human rights is the concept that basic rights, freedoms, and protections should be equally afforded to all human beings. There is no single point in time where the concept of human rights was defined and the background of human rights can be seen through different perspectives, but there are four main approaches to human rights history (Marks). The first perspective, traces the origins of human rights to ancient religious and philosophical concepts of compassion, charity, justice, individual worth, and respect for all life found in all major religions. The second approach draws human rights from the birth of “natural law theories in ancient Greece and Rome and Christian theology of the middle ages, culminating with the Enlightenment – and its contemporaneous rebellions – in Europe, combined with nineteenth-century movements for the abolition of slavery, worker’s rights, and woman suffrage (Marks).” The third approach attributes human rights to the development of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human rights and a fourth approach arose in the aftermath of World War II and is “significant only as a utopian ideal and movement (Marks).”
As human rights have been gradually developed over time, they have become an international standard of inalienable rights intended to cover humans across the globe, regardless of gender, ethnicity, national origin, language, skin color, or any other ascribed or achieved status. The basic tenets of human rights are outlined by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and are often guaranteed and enforced through international laws and treaties (“What are Human Rights?”). These rights aim to guarantee freedoms and protect humans from injustices that threaten their civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights, amongst other liberties, and are universal, inalienable, and equal and non-discriminatory.
While these rights were intended to be universal and inalienable, inequality can often determine which rights are afforded to which members of society and how much power they wield to create change and uphold democracy. Unfortunately, in many places all over, human rights are not always equally applied and in many places, minorities, low-income, and other marginalized populations often face abuses more than other members of society. This can impact things such as access to education and health care, and in turn affect peoples’ awareness of their own rights that could help them mobilize and fight for change. Additionally, housing rights are more likely to be violated in the case of development and marginalized communities who have little representation are more prone to forced evictions and other injustices, such as police brutality and lack of due process. In the U.S., a current debate is whether or not health care is a human rights. Additionally, the question of the right to clean air and water and the right to affordable housing are continual issues of contention that still remain in the spotlight.
Works Cited
“List of Human Rights Issues.” United Nations Human Rights. United Nations, 2015. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.
“What are Human Rights?” United Nations Human Rights. United Nations, 2015. Web. 27 Nov. 2015.
Marks, Stephen P. “Human Rights.” Global Social Issues: An Encyclopedia. Ed. Christopher G. Bates and James Ciment. Armonk, NY: Sharpe Reference, 2013. 519-533. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 4 Dec. 2015.
Jennifer Kim 