Human rights are moral principles or norms that describe certain standards of human behaviour, and are regularly protected as legal rights in municipal and international law. They are commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights "to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being", regardless of their nation, location, language, religion, ethnic origin or any other status.

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. Ancient peoples did not have the same modern-day conception of universal human rights.

- Human Rights, Wikipedia as on 27th December, 2017


The following has also been taken from the same page.

The human rights include:

  • Right to life: The right to life is the essential right that a human being has the right not to be killed by another human being. The concept of a right to life is central to debates on the issues of abortion, capital punishment, euthanasia, self defence and war.
  • Freedom from torture: Since the mid-20th century, torture is prohibited under international law and the domestic laws of most countries.
  • Freedom from slavery: Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
  • Right to a fair trial: As a minimum the right to fair trial includes the following fair trial rights in civil and criminal proceedings: the right to be heard by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal; the right to a public hearing; the right to be heard within a reasonable time; the right to counsel; the right to interpretation.
  • Freedom of speech: Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. In practice, the right to freedom of speech is not absolute in any country and the right is commonly subject to limitations, such as on libel, slander, obscenity, incitement to commit a crime, etc.
  • Freedom of thought, conscience and religion: These are closely related rights that protect the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to think and freely hold conscientious beliefs and to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance; the concept is generally recognised also to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any religion.
  • Freedom of movement: This asserts that a citizen of a state in which that citizen is present has the liberty to travel, reside in, and/or work in any part of the state where one pleases within the limits of respect for the liberty and rights of others, and to leave that state and return at any time.

The first four of these rights constitute the non-derogable human rights - even criminals are entitled to these. The other rights may be curtailed for criminals or in times of national emergencies, as identified by United Nations.

Moreover, this isn't an exhaustive list. In fact, there's more about these rights than what is written here. Some argue that human rights are socially constructed, and such differences should be accepted.



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