The Past and the Future of Human Rights Essays - Human Rights

Throughout human existence, people have developed sets of values for measuring our responsibilities to each other. Almost 4,000 years ago, a Babylonian king named Hammurabi devised a set of laws for his people. ?Hammurabi?s Codes established fair wages, offered protection of property, and required that charges be proven at trial? (Schulz, 2001). Hammurabi's Codes are an important part of history because they were the basis for consolidating the rule of law throughout an empire, they reveal the way human rights were beginning to emerge in Babylonia and they show that many of today?s problems also existed in Babylon. ?Remarkable as it seems, it took almost 4,000 years from the days of Hammurabi for the world to agree on a statement of rights that nearly everybody active on the international scene at the time acknowledged applied to everybody else ? even to one?s enemies! ? simply because everybody is a human being? (Schulz, 2001). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the world?s ?formal itemization of rights?that anybody could claim, from Hammurabi?s rights to wages, property, and a fair trial to the rights to marry freely, to join trade unions, to receive an education, to speak an opinion, and to not be tortured? (Schulz, 2001). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights celebrated its sixtieth anniversary three years ago. Over the past six decades, human rights have expanded and progressed, yet they still face many barriers and challenges. While the challenges facing human rights are real, they are not undefeatable. Human rights have faced many setbacks over the years, but ?defenders of human rights show a capacity to rise to the scale of great challenges, and to move history in unanticipated new directions? (Ishay, 2010). It is my belief that in the future there will be many improvements to human THE PAST AND THE FUTURE 3 rights, and in this paper I will discuss the history of human rights, realism as it applies to human rights, and how we can restore America?s international standing as a defender of human rights. Over the centuries, people gained rights and duties by belonging to a group, for example, a family, nation, religion, class, community, or state. Most of the early groups had traditions similar to the ?golden rule? of ?Do unto others as you would have them do unto you? (Schulz, 2001). All societies, whether in oral or written tradition have had systems of keeping order and taking care of their members. ?The Romans were probably the first to establish the concept of citizens? rights, but the modern American notion of rights derives from such seminal documents as the Magna Carta (1215), the English Bill of Rights (1689), the U.S. Bill of Rights (1791), and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (1789)? (Schulz, 2001). All of these documents are the written precursors to many of today?s human rights documents, yet most of these documents excluded women, people of color, and members of certain social, religious, economic, and political groups. The Universal Declarati on of Human Rights promotes respect for the human rights of everyone. After World War II, human rights began to take flight because the horrors of the Holocaust appalled the world. ?Trials were held in Nuremberg and Tokyo after World War II, and officials from the defeated countries were punished for committing war crimes, crimes against peace, and crimes against humanity? (Perez & Esposito, 2010). The United Nations was established, with the primary goal of maintaining human rights and protecting people from harm. They wanted to make sure that people would never be denied the right to life, freedom, food, shelter, or nationality. The citizens of the world witnessed THE PAST AND THE FUTURE4 unspeakable acts against humans, and took action to ensure that it never happened again. ?The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was written for nations and defined human entitlements to be promoted and protected by all nations? (Gauthier, 2009). The world during the aftermath of World War II was very unstable. Defenders of human rights looked at the world and decided what changes needed to be made, and thus the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was born. Realists, though, ?claim to view the world as it is, not as it ought to be?