Human Rights

Human Rights

        Though human rights have been around for centuries, our modern belief about them today emerged from the reactions towards the Holocaust and the values of the Nazis. This essay will define human rights, the reasons as to why we should care about them, how the contemporary human rights movement began from the reactions of the Holocaust, a personal reflection about women’s rights based on the documentary, “Lion Women”, the conditions of women which led to women’s rights being the world’s top human rights problem today, and finally another personal reflection on the most important thing the world should focus on in terms of women’s rights.

The Definition of Human Rights

Everyone knows that human rights exist and that they are universal, but what truly are human rights? The definition of human rights can be defined by splitting the phrase into the fragments, the rights portion and the human portion. The rights portion can be expressed as having both legal and moral entitlement and that there is a claim to something, which imposes duty on others or on social institutions. On the other hand, the human part shows that we have these entitlements simply because we are human. Together the definition of human rights is that because we are human, we have a justified claim to something and the right to lead minimally good lives.

Why Should We Care About Them?

Human rights haven’t always been around, so why should they be important now? This question can be answered through analyzing the purpose of the human rights. The reason for human rights is to aim and ensure personal security, material subsistence, individual freedom, non-discrimination and social recognition for everyone everywhere. Everyone wants to be guaranteed these few basic needs to live a minimally decent life, and human rights can satisfy these fears and needs, but why should we care about the respect of human rights claims of others? The answer can be seen through the eyes of five different individuals.

Jan Narveson

This man once said, “because it’s the prudent thing to do”. If we want others to respect our own human rights claim then we must respect theirs.

John Rawls

John Rawls stated it is because “it’s the fair thing to do”. If we get our human rights then other people should have their human rights too.

Michael Walzer

Michael Walzer commented on the general unanimity in favour of human rights. The development of cross-cultural documents and treaties has been on the rise recently, like the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

Thomas Pogge

        Thomas Pogge believed that “there’s a powerful negative duty not to harm”. When someone is denied their human rights, which is the right to live a minimally decent life, they are stripped of their basic needs and is thought to be the same as inflicting serious harm, and every society an ethical obligation not to inflict this serious harm onto other individuals.

John Stuart Mill

This man said that “respecting and realizing human rights will create a better world”. He saw that objective quality of life measures, like lifespan, income and health, and subjective measures of life, like personal happiness, are much higher in countries that promote and aim to ensure human rights in comparison to countries where human rights are constantly violated.