Quote: "Human rights are moral principles or norms for certain standards of human behaviour and are regularly protected in municipal and international law."
Examines the evolution of human rights as a legal and social concept, including the role of international law and organizations in protecting human rights, and the ways in which human rights are often in tension with other legal and cultural values and practices.
Definition of Human Rights: Human rights are the fundamental rights and freedoms that are universally granted to all human beings, regardless of their race, gender, nationality, religion, or any other characteristic.
Nature and Scope of Human Rights: This topic covers the origin, evolution, and typology of human rights, as well as their relationship with other legal concepts such as sovereignty, citizenship, and democracy.
International Human Rights Law: This topic covers the sources, principles, and institutions of international human rights law, including the United Nations Human Rights Council, the International Court of Justice, and various human rights treaties and conventions.
Regional Human Rights Systems: This topic covers regional human rights systems, such as the European Convention on Human Rights, the Inter-American Human Rights System, and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, and their respective monitoring bodies.
Human Rights and State Sovereignty: This topic covers the tension between human rights and state sovereignty, as well as the role of international law and human rights institutions in protecting human rights in a globalized world.
Human Rights and Democracy: This topic covers the relationship between human rights and democracy, including the right to political participation, freedom of expression and assembly, and the right to access information.
Human Rights and Discrimination: This topic covers various forms of discrimination, including racism, sexism, and discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, and how international and domestic legal frameworks address these issues.
Human Rights and Social Justice: This topic covers the intersection between human rights and social justice, exploring how human rights can be used to promote social equality, eradicate poverty, and address systemic inequalities.
Human Rights and the Environment: This topic covers the relationship between human rights and the environment, including the right to clean air, water, and land, and the impact of environmental degradation on human rights.
Human Rights Advocacy and Activism: This topic covers the role of human rights advocacy and activism in promoting human rights at the domestic and international levels, including the role of civil society organizations and social movements.
Civil and Political Rights: Relate to the protection of the individual against the state's intrusion into their lives.
Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights: Encompass the right to work, education, health care, and an adequate standard of living.
Universal Human Rights: Is a general term referring to all human rights in general.
Group Rights: These rights are often used by minority groups or marginalized individuals.
Children's Rights: Advocate for children’s rights in terms of education, health and care.
Women's Rights: Ensure equal protection under the law for women and equal access to education, healthcare, and equal wages and in the workplace.
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transsexual (GLBT) Rights: Aim to protect the rights of people in this category where they are often discriminated against.
Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Protect the rights of the indigenous peoples, which are often identity-related.
Right to Development: Ensure equal and adequate measure of freedom and access to resources for development, both personal and community level.
Right to Privacy: Protect an individuals’ right to privacy in all aspects of their life.
Right to Education: Is usually expressed as a right to free and compulsory education for all children in a particular country.
Quote: "They are commonly understood as inalienable, fundamental rights 'to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being' and which are 'inherent in all human beings'."
Quote: "They are applicable everywhere and at every time in the sense of being universal."
Quote: "They are egalitarian in the sense of being the same for everyone."
Quote: "They are regarded as requiring empathy and the rule of law and imposing an obligation on persons to respect the human rights of others."
Quote: "It is generally considered that they should not be taken away except as a result of due process based on specific circumstances."
Quote: "The doctrine of human rights has been highly influential within international law and global and regional institutions."
Quote: "The idea of human rights suggests that 'if the public discourse of peacetime global society can be said to have a common moral language, it is that of human rights'."
Quote: "The strong claims made by the doctrine of human rights continue to provoke considerable skepticism and debates about the content, nature, and justifications of human rights to this day."
Quote: "Some thinkers suggest that human rights should be a minimum requirement to avoid the worst-case abuses, while others see it as a higher standard."
Quote: "Many of the basic ideas that animated the human rights movement developed in the aftermath of the Second World War and the events of the Holocaust, culminating in the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Paris by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948."
Quote: "The true forerunner of human rights discourse was the concept of natural rights which appeared as part of the medieval natural law tradition that became prominent during the European Enlightenment..."
Quote: "From this foundation, the modern human rights arguments emerged over the latter half of the 20th century, possibly as a reaction to slavery, torture, genocide, and war crimes, as a realization of inherent human vulnerability and as being a precondition for the possibility of a just society."
Quote: "Human rights advocacy has continued into the early 21st century, centered around achieving greater economic and political freedom."
Quote: "They are regularly protected in municipal and international law."
Quote: "The precise meaning of the term right is controversial and is the subject of continued philosophical debate."
Quote: "It has also been argued that human rights are 'God-given', although this notion has been criticized."
Quote: "Ancient peoples did not have the same modern-day conception of universal human rights."
Quote: "Human rights should be a minimum requirement to avoid the worst-case abuses."
Quote: "There is disagreement about which of these particular rights should be included within the general framework of human rights."