A Brief History of Human Rights

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A Brief History of Human Rights
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Historical Phases

• Ishay suggests that there are six phases in
  relationship to the development of legal
  documents related to human rights. (She says
  five at one place, but then sets out six.)
• As you develop your project, be sure that you
  read appropriate declarations carefully.

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Phase 1 The King and Parliament

• Magna Charta (1215)
• No suspension of civil liberties
• Petition of Right (1628) and Habeas Corpus Act
  (1679)
• English Bill of Rights (1689)
• American Declaration of Independence (1776)
• French Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen
  (1789)

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Phase 2 Broadening the Legitimacy of the State

• England
• Chartist Petition of 1837 and Second Reform Act
  (1867) (suffrage)
• Factory Health and Morals Acts (1802) and Factory
  Act (1833) (labor health and safety)
• Ten Hours Act (1847) (work hours)
• General Act of the Berlin Conference (1884)
  (slavery)
• Geneva Convention (1864) (soldiers medical
  treatment)

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Phase 3 International Regime to Prevent War and
Genocide

• International Labor Organization (1919)
• League of Nations (1919)

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Phase 4 Further Developments of International
Regime

• United Nations Charter
• Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of
  the Crime of Genocide (1948)
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

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Phase 5 Cold War and the Division of Human Rights

• International Covenant on Civil and Political
  Rights (ICCPR)
• Western liberal perspective
• Immediate protection of rights
• International Covenant of Economic, Social, and
  Cultural Rights (ICESCR)
• Solidarity rights
• Implementing rights over time

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Phase 6 Rights Specific Documents

• United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the
  Disabled (1975)
• United Nations convention on the Elimination of
  All Forms of discrimination against Women (1979)
• Documents of refugees, sexual trafficking, rights
  of children

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United Nations Declaration of Human Rights

• "Where, after all, do universal human
• rights begin? In small places, close to
• home - so close and so small that
• they cannot be seen on any maps of
• the world. Yet they are the world of
• the individual person the
• neighborhood he lives in the school
• or college he attends the factory,
• farm, or office where he works. Such
• are the places where every man,
• woman, and child seeks equal justice,
• equal opportunity, equal dignity
• without discrimination. Unless these
• rights have meaning there, they have
• little meaning anywhere. Without
• concerted citizen action to uphold
• them close to home, we shall look in
• vain for progress in the larger world.
• Eleanor Roosevelt

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United Nations Declaration of Human Rights

• Reading the document as tracing the historical
  development of rights
• 1-2, human dignity
• 3-19, liberty (Enlightenment)
• 20-26, equality (political, social, and economic
  equity of the Industrial Revolution)
• 27-29, fraternity or solidarity (communal and
  national solidarity of post-colonial era)

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United Nations Declaration of Human Rights

• Reading the document as setting out specific
  rights and grouping these
• Security rights protect people against crimes
  such as murder, torture, and rape
• Due process rights protect against abuses of
  legal systems such as imprisonment without trial
• Liberty rights protect freedoms in belief,
  expression, assembly, etc
• Political rights protect liberty to participate
  in communicating, voting, assembling, etc.
• Equality rights guarantee things like
  nondiscrimination
• Social rights require provision for things like
  education and food
• Later treaties include group rights, protection
  of ethnic groups

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Read pages 493-497. Note that the text will
reference this document frequently

• 1-2, human dignity
• 3-19, liberty (Enlightenment)
• 20-26, equality (political, social, and economic
  equity of the Industrial Revolution)
• 27-29, fraternity or solidarity (communal and
  national solidarity of post-colonial era)