What are Human Rights?

Human Rights are a recent notion in international law. They are the result of practices, norms, and rules developed throughout various cultures, societies and civilizations. One of the earliest texts containing human rights was the Magna Carta, a britannic Chart from 1215 which was forcing the power to guarantee certain rights to its citizens. Human rights later on continued to develop at the national scale with the American Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the French Déclaration des Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen in 1789.
Their development as internationally recognized rights, whose respect concerns the whole international community, started in the second half of the 20th century. On the aftermath of the Second World War, the 58 UN members signed on December the 10th 1948 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Human rights are a set of rules, defining the rights of every human being without distinction “of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status” (Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights).

Some rights are said to constitute the “core of human rights”, because they cover basic rights and freedoms, to which no derogation/limitation/suspension is possible. They include, but are not limited to, the right to life, the right not to be subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment, the right to liberty, the abolition of slavery, the right to a fair trial, the freedom of thought, conscience, religion, opinion and expression, the right to education, food, housing.

Human rights are universal and interdependent.

Human Rights can be found in all the sources of international law: in conventional texts such as treaties , conventions, covenants [1], as well as in customary law and general principles of international law.
These texts and rules are of greater importance than national legislation, which means that no matter the political system, the government has to ensure that they are respected.

As a consequence, the State has obligations under international law (when, for example, it ratifies a treaty) implying a legal duty to refrain from interfering in the enjoyment of people’s human rights. Furthermore, the State has also a positive obligation to protect the people against human rights abuses committed by others, and to prosecute and punish those who have committed the violations.
As for individuals, they have the right to have their human rights respected but also the duty to respect those of others.

Every single State in the world has signed at least one of the texts dealing with human rights and is bound by international customary law. The main human rights instrument is the International Bill of Rights and consists of:
 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
 The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
 The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

However, human rights evolve and beyond the two generations of human rights defined in the two above Covenants, new sets of rights are being identified and recognized. These include the so-called “third generation-rights”, such as the right to a healthy and sustainable environment.