What Is Meant by Human Rights?
Human rights are those rights that belong to every individual - man or woman, girl or boy, infant or elder - simply because she or he is a human being. They embody the basic standards without which people cannot realize their inherent human dignity.
Human rights are universal: they are the birthright of every member of the human family. No one has to earn or deserve human rights.
Human rights are inalienable: you cannot lose these rights any more than you can cease to be a human being. Human rights are indivisible: you cannot be denied a right because someone decides that it is "less important" or "non-essential". Human rights are interdependent: all human rights are part of a complementary framework.
Human rights are both abstract and practical. They hold up the inspiring vision of a free, justice and peaceful world and set minimum standards for how both individuals and institutions should treat people. They also empower people to take action to demand and defend their rights and the rights of others.
The universal standards of human rights were not developed overnight. The major pressure for the internationalization of human rights followed the Second World War, during which totalitarian regimes grossly violated human rights in their own and occupied territories, and were responsible for the elimination of entire groups of people because of their race, religion or nationality. The experience of that war resulted in a widespread conviction that effective international protection of human rights was one of the essential conditions of international peace and progress. This conviction was subsequently reflected in and reinforced by the Charter of the United Nations.
Although human rights were principally defined and codified in the twentieth century, human rights values are rooted in the literature, values and religious teachings of almost every culture.
Read the following and you will understand more about human rights:
The Charter of UN
>>> helps you understand the background and development of the international human rights standard
The International Bill of Human Right
>>> helps you understand the universal standard of human rights
Other human rights instruments
>>> helps you know more about other treaties for human rights