the idea of human rights is that each
one of us no matter who we are or where
we are born is entitled to the same
basic rights and freedoms human rights
are not privileges and they cannot be
granted or revoked
they are inalienable and universal that
may sound straightforward enough but it
gets incredibly complicated as soon as
anyone tries to put the idea into
practice what exactly are the basic
human rights who gets to pick them who
enforces them and how the history behind
the concept of Human Rights is a long
one throughout the centuries and across
societies religions and cultures we have
struggled with defining notions of
rightfulness justice and rights but one
of the most modern affirmations of
universal human rights emerged from the
ruins of World War two with the creation
of the United Nations the treaty that
established the UN gives as one of its
purposes to reaffirm faith in
fundamental human rights and with the
same spirit in 1948 the UN General
Assembly adopted the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights
this document written by an
International Committee chaired by
Eleanor Roosevelt lays the basis for
modern international human rights law
the declaration is based on the
principle that all human beings are born
free and equal in dignity and rights
it lists 30 articles recognizing among
other things the principle of
non-discrimination and the right to life
and liberty it refers to negative
freedoms like the freedom from torture
or slavery as well as positive freedoms
such as the freedom of movement and
residence it encompasses basic civil and
political rights such as freedom of
expression religion or peaceful assembly
as well as social economic and cultural
rights such as the right to education
and the right to freely choose one's
occupation and be paid and treated
fairly the declaration takes no sides as
to which rights are more important
insisting on their universality
indivisibility and interdependence and
in the past decades international human
rights law has grown deepening and
expanding our understanding of what
human rights are and how to better
protect them so if these principles are
so well developed then why are human
rights abused and ignored time and time
again all over the world the problem in
general is that it is not at all easy to
universally enforce these rights or to
punish transgressors the UDHR itself
despite being highly authoritative and
respected is a declaration not a hard
law so when individual countries violate
it the mechanisms to address those
violations are weak
for example the main bodies within the
UN in charge of protecting human rights
mostly monitor and investigate
violations but they cannot force States
to say change a policy or compensate a
victim that's why some critics say it's
naive to consider human rights a given
in a world where state interests wield
so much power critics also question the
universality of human rights and
emphasize that their development has
been heavily guided by a small number of
mostly Western nations to the detriment
of inclusiveness the result a general
bias in favor of civil political
liberties over socio-political rights
and of individual over collective or
groups rights others defend universal
human rights laws and point at the
positive role they have on setting
international standards and helping
activists in their campaigns they also
point out that not all international
human rights instruments are powerless
for example the European Convention on
Human Rights establishes a court where
the 47 member countries and their
citizens can bring cases the court
issues binding decisions that each
member state must comply with human
rights law is constantly evolving as our
views and definitions of what the basic
human rights should be for example how
basic or important is the right to
democracy or to development and as our
lives are increasingly digital should
there be a right to access the Internet
a right to digital privacy
what do you think