The horrors of World War II brought to global consciousness the idea that human rights need to be universally respected. In 1948 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a set of 30 rights that belong to everyone. Seven decades later, those 30 rights are still the foundation of international law.
A central belief in human rights is that people have natural or God-given rights that must be recognized by society and governments. These rights are inalienable, meaning that they cannot be taken away from people. It is also believed that all people, regardless of their status in the society or the quality of their government, are born with certain fundamental human rights, including the right to life, liberty and security.
Human rights also posit that there are limits to the power of the state, and that the state must protect the individual’s freedoms. In order to be valid, these principles must be rooted in a morally just and rational system of laws that ensures the respect and dignity of all people.
These basic beliefs have given rise to an international human rights regime, and to a number of regional and national human rights bodies. These institutions are not perfect, but they are an important step in preventing genocide and other human tragedies.
While most people in the world recognize these values, they do not all agree on what human rights are. There are different views of what rights are fundamental, as well as differing opinions about how those rights should be interpreted and applied.
For example, many human rights activists believe that the standard lists of human rights do not adequately take into account the particular risks and dangers that women face. Because of the widespread discrimination against women in many societies, it is believed that they must be protected from harm and violations of their rights. This has led to the expansion of lists of human rights that address issues like violence against women, reproductive choice, and trafficking in women for sex work.
It is important for the future of human rights that a strong and viable movement emerges that has widespread political support. This will require that the human rights framework appeal to people with a broad range of political viewpoints, from center-left to center-right. In order to have the best chance of achieving this goal, it is essential that those who advocate for human rights adopt a philosophical outlook that reflects a form of realism.
Realism is a view that states and other actors should seek to treat people in the most humane manner possible. This view is incompatible with relativism, which states that the morally just and rational principles of human rights do not apply in all circumstances and situations. Realism also rejects the idea that any cultural practice or religion should be excluded from the human rights debate. Moreover, it is a view that supports the notion that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is not just a 20th-century Western creation, but rather an ongoing effort to promote peace and justice in a changing world.