Human Rights: Early Foundations

• Sovereignty resides in the people, and authority emanates from them, with human rights inherent to each individual, not granted by the state.
• Government exists to serve the people, which is key to understanding the human rights struggle.
• People-centered governance aligns with the human rights movement, reinforcing that institutions must protect individual freedoms and dignity.

Early Foundations of Human Rights

• Plato advanced the concept of the common good, while Aristotle evaluated values: virtue, justice, and rights.
• Stoicism followed Plato and Aristotle's philosophy.
• Stoics believed in natural law, jus naturale, born of lex aeterna, and considered that all humans share a spark of divinity.
• The earth and cosmos belong to one indissoluble process, so humans must live consistently with the laws of nature, guided by reason.
• Roman law continued Stoicism, developing the concept of natural law, inspiring universal rights for all human beings.
• The rift between patricians and plebeians around 400 BCE forced publication of the twelve tablets, the ancient Roman Laws.
• These laws formed an important part of the foundation of all subsequent Western civil and criminal law.

The Magna Carta (1215)

• The Magna Carta, signed in England in 1215, is one of the earliest legal documents associated with human rights.
• It was a political agreement between King John and rebellious barons to limit the king's power, not to protect all people.
• Principles that influenced the development of human rights exist from the Magna Carta, such as: no one is above the law, and the protection of certain legal rights, including a fair trial.
• The Magna Carta set the precedent that power must be limited and accountable, a key theme in human rights history, though it did not grant rights to ordinary people.

The English Bill of Rights (1689)

• The English Bill of Rights (1689) was enacted after England's civil war and political revolution.
• It further restricted royal power and introduced principles that shaped democratic governance:
• The prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.
• The requirement that laws must be approved by Parliament.
• The protection of free speech within Parliament.
• These developments signified a shift away from absolute monarchy toward governance based on rights and laws.

The Enlightenment Thinkers and the Social Contract

• Philosophers of the Enlightenment shaped modern human rights by questioning the nature of government, freedom, and justice from the 17th and 18th centuries.
• Thomas Hobbes argued that society needed a strong central authority to maintain order in Leviathan (1651).
• Without a powerful ruler, society would descend into chaos.
• Without a strong central authority, human society falls into a state of nature, where chaos and violence reign.
• Without a governing body, there is no concept of justice or human rights since rights can only exist where laws are enforced.
• Hobbes introduced the social contract, suggesting people give up some freedoms for security and order under the government.
• John Locke took up the social contract idea arguing in his Two Treatises of Government (1690): all individuals are born with natural rights: life, liberty, and property.
• Governments exist to protect these rights; if a government fails, people have the right to overthrow it and laws must be based on the consent of the governed.
• Locke's ideas influenced later political movements, including the American and French Revolutions.
• Montesquieu advocated for the separation of powers, dividing government into executive, legislative, and judicial branches to prevent tyranny.
• Rousseau expanded the social contract, emphasizing the general will of the people and direct participation in government.
• These ideas influenced revolutionary movements in the 18th century.

The Rise of Constitutional Human Rights

• The late 18th century saw human rights translated into constitutional law in key historical moments.
• In 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote the U.S. Declaration of Independence, which stated all men are created equal and are endowed with certain unalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
• The U.S. Declaration of Independence laid the foundation for governments to protect human rights, and if they fail, people have the right to replace them.
• The French Revolution produced the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen in 1789.
• The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen stated: All men are born free and equal Law should protect individual freedom, and the power of the state must be limited to safeguard rights.
• Both declarations marked the first formal attempts to codify human rights into legal systems.

Human Rights Before and After World War II

• Despite advancements, human rights were not universally enforced, and many violations occurred throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries.
• Slavery was abolished in Britain (1833) and the U.S. (1865), though the global fight against slavery continued.
• The Geneva Conventions (1864, 1899, 1907) introduced protections for prisoners of war and wounded soldiers.
• After World War I, the League of Nations attempted to protect minority rights in Europe, but it lacked the power to enforce these protections.
• The Nazi genocide and World War II exposed the urgent need for a universal human rights framework, resulting in:
• The Nuremberg Trials (1945) established the concept of crimes against humanity, making individuals accountable for war crimes.
• The United Nations Charter (1945) officially committed nations to promoting human rights.
• In 1948, the newly formed United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), led by Eleanor Roosevelt.
• The UDHR outlined: Freedom of speech, religion, and equality before the law, protection from torture and slavery, and the right to education and work.
• The UDHR set the standard for modern human rights laws, although not legally binding.