Human Rights Terms

Human Rights Terms

• United Nations: Founded in 1945, it promotes peace, security, and cooperation, and upholds human rights globally.
• Cold War: A period of political and military tension (1947-1991) between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, influencing human rights policies and conflicts.
• Declaration: A formal statement used in human rights, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
• Personal Rights: Fundamental rights belonging to individuals, including the right to life, liberty, security, privacy, and freedom of movement.
• Social and Cultural Rights: Rights that ensure societal participation through access to education, healthcare, cultural activities, and adequate living standards.
• Political Rights: Rights enabling participation in government and public affairs, including voting, holding office, and engaging in free speech and assembly.
• Economic Rights: Relate to work and well-being, including fair wages, safe conditions, and labor protection.
• Slavery: Treating individuals as property, forcing unpaid labor, violating fundamental rights.
• Debt Slavery: Forcing individuals to work to repay debts under exploitative conditions.
• Forced Marriage: A marriage lacking full consent from one or both parties, often involving coercion, threats, or violence.
• Child Labor: Exploitation of children through harmful work, hindering development, education, or well-being.
• Trafficking in Women: Illegal trade and exploitation of women for forced labor or sexual exploitation.
• Religious Freedom: The right to practice, change, or choose a religion without persecution.
• Training: Education or skill-building to empower individuals through knowledge and awareness.
• Illiteracy: The inability to read or write, limiting access to information, education, and employment.
• Freedom of Expression: The right to express opinions, ideas, and information freely through speech, writing, or other forms of communication.
• Torture: Deliberately inflicting severe pain or suffering as punishment, interrogation, or intimidation.
• Caricatures: Drawings or images that exaggerate features, used in satire to raise debates about freedom of expression and offense.
• Employers: People or organizations that hire workers with the responsibility to provide fair wages, safe conditions, and prevent discrimination.
• Trade Union: An organization formed by workers to protect their rights, negotiate better conditions, and improve wages.
• Globalization: Increased economic, political, and cultural interconnectedness that can positively or negatively impact human rights (access to information vs. worker exploitation).
• Equal Pay: The principle that individuals should receive the same salary for the same work, regardless of background.
• Convention: A formal agreement between countries establishing human rights standards, such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
• Universal Human Rights: All people possess inherent and equal rights that must be respected and protected, regardless of nationality, race, gender, or background.

Welfare Society Terms

• Welfare: Government support to ensure citizens' well-being, including healthcare, education, financial aid, and housing.
• Basic Needs: Essential things people need to survive and live decently, including food, water, shelter, healthcare, education, and clothing.
• Social Safety Net: Government programs protecting individuals from economic hardship through unemployment benefits, pensions, social security, healthcare, and food assistance.
• Transfer Income: Government-redistributed money through welfare programs like unemployment benefits, child support, and social security pensions, not earned through labor.
• Tax: Mandatory payments from citizens and businesses funding public services like infrastructure, healthcare, and education.
• Scandinavian Welfare Model: Used in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland, it is based on high taxes and extensive public services like healthcare, free education, and strong social security benefits. Its goal is to reduce economic inequality and give equal opportunities.
• Central European Welfare Model: known as the Bismarckian Model, it is used in Germany, France and Austria. It is based on social insurance where workers and employers contribute to funds that provide benefits such as healthcare, pensions, and unemployment support. Benefits are often linked to employment status rather than being universal.
• Anglo-Saxon Welfare Model: Used in the UK, USA, and Canada, it is market-driven and offers limited social benefits, encouraging personal responsibility. Taxes are lower and welfare is targeted.
• Redistribution: Collecting and redistributing wealth through taxation to reduce economic inequality.

World War II Terms

• Nazism: A far-right ideology connected to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party which is based on extreme nationalism, racism/antisemitism and totalitarian control.
• Treaty of Versailles: Signed in 1919, it ended World War I, placing heavy penalties on Germany, contributing to the rise of Hitler and World War II.
• Minority: A smaller group within a larger population that may differ in ethnicity, religion, culture, or language. Jews, Romani and other minorities were targeted by the Nazis.
• Annexation: The forcible takeover of one country's territory by another, such as Nazi Germany's annexation of Austria in 1938 (Anschluss).
• Propaganda: Biased or misleading information used to influence public opinion, the Nazi party used it to promote antisemitism, war efforts and Hitler.
• Maginot Line: Fortifications built by France along its border with Germany before WWII to prevent invasion which Germany by passed through Belgium in 1940.
• War of Expansion: A war to gain more territory such as when Nazi Germany started WWII to expand its living space in Eastern Europe.
• Blitzkrieg: Military tactic meaning "lightning war" that was used by Nazi Germany using fast-moving tans, air strikes, and ground attacks to quickly overwhelm enemies,
• Iron Ore: A natural resource crucial for making steel and weapons, Sweden's iron ore was vital to Germany's war industry.
• Pearl Harbor: A surprise attack on a US naval base on December 7, 1941, that led to the USA entering WWII.
• El Alamein: A major battle in North Africa (1942) where the British defeated Germany's Erwin Rommel, marking a turning point in the war.
• Stalingrad: A brutal battle between Germany and the Soviet Union (1942-1943) in the city of Stalingrad, a turning point in WWII.
• D-Day: Allied forces invaded Nazi-occupied France (Normandy landings) on June 6, 1944, liberating Western Europe.
• Nuremberg Trials: Post-war trials (1945-46) where Nazi leaders were prosecuted for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
• Kristallnacht: A violent Nazi-led attack on Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues on November 9-10, 1938
• The Final Solution: Nazi plan to systematically exterminate all Jews in Europe which led to the Holocaust and deaths of six million Jews.
• Deportation: The forced removal of people from their homes and millions of jews were deported to concentration camps.
• Concentration Camp: Prison camps used by the Nazis to imprison, torture, and murder Jews, political prisoners, Romani people, and others.
• Holocaust: Genocide of six million Jews and millions of others by Nazi Germany during WWII.
• Cooperation policy: Policy where some governments of groups collaborated with Nazi Germany instead of resisting, such as Vichy France.
• Censorship: The control of information by governments to prevent people from seeing, reading, or hearing certain ideas.
• Sabotage: Acts of destruction used by resistance groups to weaken the enemy.
• Telegram Crisis: A political conflict in Denmark (1942) when the Danish government refused Nazi demands to crack down on Danish resistance, which led to a stricter German occupation.
• State of Emergency: A government crisis situation that allows special laws, restrictions, and military control.
• Gestapo: The Nazi secret police known for brutal crackdowns on resistance and arresting opponents of Hitler.
• Anachronism: Something that is out of its proper historical time period, such as a modern smartphone in a WWII setting would be an anachronism.

Cold War Terms

• The Atomic Bomb: A powerful nuclear weapon developed during World War II. The Cold War was shaped by the fear of nuclear war between the USA and the USSR.
• Cuban Missile Crisis: A 13-day standoff in 1962 between the USA and the Soviet Union over Soviet nuclear missiles placed in Cuba.
• Soviet Union (USSR): A communist superpower led by Russia, competing against the USA during the Cold War, which later collapsed in 1991.
• East Germany/GDR (German Democratic Republic): The communist-controlled part of Germany, supported by the Soviet Union.
• West Germany (Federal Republic of Germany): The capitalist and democratic part of Germany, supported by the USA and its allies.
• Ideology: A system of beliefs that shaped Cold War conflicts. The USA promoted capitalism and democracy, while the USSR supported communism and dictatorship.
• Market Economy: An economic system where businesses are privately owned, and prices are determined by supply and demand.
• Planned Economy: An economic system controlled by the government, where production and prices are decided by the state.
• The Truman Doctrine: A U.S. policy to stop the spread of communism by helping countries resisting Soviet influence.
• The Marshall Plan and Marshall Aid: A U.S. program giving financial aid to rebuild Western Europe after WWII, preventing communism from spreading.
• Neutrality Policy: Some countries chose to stay neutral in the Cold War, avoiding alliances with either side.
• NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization): A military alliance of the USA and Western European countries to defend against Soviet aggression.
• Warsaw Pact: The Soviet Union's response to NATO, forming a military alliance with Eastern European communist countries.
• Arms Race: A competition between the USA and USSR to build more powerful nuclear weapons and military technology.
• Nuclear War: A potential full-scale war using nuclear weapons, which could have led to mass destruction.
• Communism: A political and economic system where the government controls all property and resources, aiming for economic equality.
• The West: A term used to describe the USA, Western Europe, and other capitalist allies during the Cold War.
• Capitalism: An economic system where businesses are privately owned, and people can earn profit freely.
• Iron Curtain: A metaphorical barrier separating communist Eastern Europe from capitalist Western Europe.
• Berlin Wall and Its Fall: A physical wall built by East Germany to stop people from escaping to West Berlin which fell in 1989 and symbolized the end of the Cold War.