CRIN - Child Rights Information Network
Human rights can be defined as those basic standards without
which people cannot live in dignity as human beings.
Once legally established, a human right becomes the means by which an
individual – as a right–holder – can bring legitimate claims against others –
duty-bearers - when that right is not enjoyed or has been violated. In this
way, those who have obligations and responsibilities – duty–bearers – can
be held accountable.
The ideas and concepts underpinning rights can be traced back millennia.
In recent centuries human rights have increasingly been codified in
constitutions, national laws, charters and codes. But it was only after the
appalling human rights violations of the Second World War that the political
will was sufficient to establish a framework of international rights.
With the creation of the United Nations came the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights in 1948, a normative framework of standards intended to
set the basis for a peaceful, tolerant future. This landmark work has been
steadily built upon, first by strengthening the initial declaration of rights
into binding agreements, and more recently by developing focused
international instruments dealing with specific emerging challenges.
Nevertheless, the establishment of this global framework of human rights
standards has not been uniform or without problems. For example, the
original Declaration codified a range of civil, economic, social, cultural,
collective and political rights. But the competing ideologies that emerged
after the Second World War led to delays in agreeing the detailed
application of such a holistic framework.
The past decade has seen significant advances in the recognition of a
universal approach to human rights. This shift was assisted by the removal
of some of the ideological constraints of the “Cold War”. But it is partly due
to knowledge generated from international development programming that
has moved from a needs–based approach to one focused on people as
inherent holders of rights. Most recently, this convergence of human rights
and development has gained prominence through rights–based
approaches to programming.
Three useful web resources are:
The Compass Introduction to Human Rights
The BBC’s introduction to the international framework of human rights
The history page of The Universal Rights Network
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