Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

  • We're Hiring!
  • Help Center

paper cover thumbnail

Human Rights Thesis by Abdeta Emana

Profile image of Abdeta Emana

Related Papers

Abdeta Emana

thesis statement of human rights

Shahnawaz Laghari

Faghfirly Dufana

HUMAN RIGHTS: BETWEEN UNIVERSALISM AND CULTURAL RELATIVISM

Paul Aidonojie , Odojor Oyenmwosa Anne

The concept of human rights over time has gained popularity and recognition. It has been observed that the evolution of human rights in the present era has aroused a lot of debate and controversy as regard its justification and applicability to a human being, by virtue of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Conference in Vienna 1993. These international treaties reconfirmed the validity of the universality of human rights, which has attracted criticizing from cultural relativist scholars like Renteln that it is based on western origin. This paper adopted the doctrinal and analytical research method in examining cultural relativist views such as Renteln's argument on the Universality of Human Rights and Cultural Relativism if Universalism of Human Rights is Western Imperialism? Weakness and Challenges of cultural relativist View on human rights. It was therefore recommended that, in order to end the endless arguments on whether or not human rights are universal, there is a need to convene an international forum where at least a more significant number percentage of nations can form a quorum in resolving the issue.

Pranjal Choudhury

THE AGE OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Edna Raquel Hogemann

The consolidation of relations of global society requires the progressive establishment of a global legal system, consisting of a system of rules-precisely, human rights-as the source and evaluation criteria of positive national rights. This essay aims to contribute to some extent using reflective dialectical methodology, establishing logical-argumentative criteria, based on the dialogue between authors to exercise a critical reflection of the official narrative on the universality of human rights, in addition overcoming the universalism/relativism dichotomy eurocentricaly established by a theory of human rights between universalism and cultural relativism. Introdution There are strong criticisms of the attempts to create a world political order based on the defense of human rights, allowing international organizations and major powers to implement a centralized policy of "humanitarian" intervention, situated above the sovereignty of States, using even of war resources if necessary. In this line of argument, there are those who accuse the West of using "human rights rhetoric" to cover up their true political and economic interests and, through that discourse, impose its policies on the rest of the world. The process leading to the creation and consolidation of human rights is contemporary to the expansion of Europe and the West over the whole world and inextricably linked to this process and its contradictions. If, in the so-called West, the consolidation of some fundamental rights was the result of many struggles and conflicts and wars, non-European countries excluded from this process since the beginning and not infrequently participated as victims. The approach to the issue of human rights comes as a more tortuous issue to jurists faced with dilemmas that have assumed an enormous degree of importance with the intra-frontier and international community and which, at the same time, have not yet achieved unity of thought that allows its organization to ensure universal protection. It is, therefore, relevant to the establishment of a set of universal human rights to try to find, at least, a minimum set of guarantees capable of assuring the dignity of the human person. The very notion of dignity is problematic for the solution of this impasse, as each country, and within each of these countries, each culture sheltered by them, tends to establish its own conception of human dignity. To discuss a theory of human rights necessarily leads to a reference to the juridical theory of this class of rights, enshrined by a range of treaties, conventions and

Affonso kristeva

Stacy Tourtin

Springer eBooks

Prof. Bhabani Nayak

RELATED PAPERS

Mohamed El Marraki

Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening

Steinar Hunskår

Lidya Sri Debora

Sarantos Kapidakis

“Inauguração de uma galeria de arte” e “A Gioconda de Astracã”, de Velímir Khlébnikov

Revista Rus

Journal of Clinical Practice

Dmitry Puzenko

TARO NAGANO

The American Journal of Cardiology

ahmet karagöz

catedras.fsoc.uba.ar

Tomé Coletti

대전오피✽⥫DaLpocha5쩜ĆØΜ⥭✽대전건마

daniel elosi

IRJET Journal

American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism

I. Nordentoft

Sérgio Abranches

Journal of Scientific …

MD ABUL HOSSAIN

Revista Chilena De Cirugia

Eduardo Arribalzaga

Turkish Journal of Physics

Viktor Andreev

Iranian journal of cancer prevention

Mohammad Hallajnejad

Maria Economou

Sciences Sociales et Santé

Pierre Vidal Naquet

Pedro Pereira Leite

Revue Economique

Pierre-guillaume Méon

M. Ryan Joung

Sied Enped Simposio Internacional De Educacao a Distância E Encontro De Pesquisadores Em Educacao a Distância

Thaís Cristina Machado

SSRN Electronic Journal

The Journal of Speech and Language Pathology – Applied Behavior Analysis

Kevin Klatt

  •   We're Hiring!
  •   Help Center
  • Find new research papers in:
  • Health Sciences
  • Earth Sciences
  • Cognitive Science
  • Mathematics
  • Computer Science
  • Academia ©2024

240 Human Rights Essay Topics & Examples

Whether you’re interested in exploring enduring issues, social justice, or democracy, see the ideas below. Along with human rights topics for essays and other papers, our experts have prepared writing tips for you.

  • ✅ Tips for Writing Essays on Human Rights

🏆 Best Human Rights Topic Ideas & Essay Examples

🥇 most interesting human rights topics for essays, 🎓 simple & easy human rights essay topics, 💡 great human rights research topics, 🔎 interesting topics to write about human rights, ❓ essay questions on human rights.

If you’re starting a discussion on human rights, essay examples on the subject can really help you with argumentation. And if you’re assigned to come up with a research paper or speech on it, a good idea is a must for an excellent grade. Good thing you’ve found this list of human rights essay topics!

✅ 9 Tips for Writing Essays on Human Rights

The recognition of people’s rights through proper laws preserves human dignity. This broadness means that human rights essay topics range in scope drastically, requiring you to bring together different kinds of ideas in a single paper.

Thus, you may need to keep in mind particular tips, from structural advice to correct terminology, to write an excellent human rights essay.

Do your research before you start working on your outline. Searching for book and journal titles beforehand will not only help you understand your topic better but also help you structure your thoughts, affecting your structure for the better.

Compiling a bibliography early will also save you from the mess, which comes from ordering and standardizing your sources as you go.

After you have your reference page ready, draft a human rights essay outline.

Make it as detailed or as simple as you need, because what is essential is that you divide your topics evenly between your paragraphs or subheadings.

Doing so will ensure that you have a comprehensive essay that helps advance academic knowledge on a particular subject, rather than an overpowered paper aimed at a single problem.

Write your thesis statement as your final prewriting step. Excellent thesis examples should state the theme explicitly and leave your reader with an accurate understanding of what you are trying to achieve in your paper.

Skipping or ignoring this phase may leave your work disoriented and without a definite purpose.

Keep in mind your chosen human rights essay questions when writing. Going off theme will never get you good marks with your instructor.

If you are writing from a cultural relativism point of view, then do you have the word-count to argue about moral relativism? Do not forget that everything you write should advance your central thesis and never undermine it!

Get a good grasp on the relevant terminology. Confusing human nature with the human condition is never a good start to a paper that aspires to shed light on one subject or the other.

You can start writing down the terms that you find useful or intriguing during your research phase to help you gain a better understanding of their meaning.

Understand the correct time and place to qualify or refute certain statements. Arguing against the children’s right to basic needs may never be appropriate in an academic setting. Acknowledge the arguable cases, and subvert these to your benefit, as an essayist.

Interest your audience with essay hooks and exciting facts. Academia is not a dull place, and your readers may find themselves more willing to engage with your work if they find it enjoyable, rather than dry and formalistic. Doing so will also demonstrate your good grasp on the subject!

Remain respectful of your chosen case, and remember that you are writing about a subject that experiences hundreds of daily violations.

Recognizing the dangerous nature of your paper will not only help you separate beneficial facts from superficial ones but may also allow you to hone your academic integrity.

Read sample essays online to gain a better understanding of what essay mechanics will work and which you can leave unused. This extra reading may also give you good human rights essay ideas to begin writing your paper!

However, remember that plagiarism is a punishable offense, unlike the simple act of becoming inspired by others’ work. Want to see some samples? Head over to IvyPanda and jump-start your paper!

  • Three Generations of Human Rights Development The current legal recognition of human rights attainment originated from various declarations and the most pronounced included the Magna Carta declaration in the thirteenth century that curtailed the royal powers, the American declaration of independence […]
  • How Nike Sweatshops in Asia Violate Human Rights Factors that facilitated the emergence and development of Nike sweatshops included the availability of cheap labor, lower costs of production, lower wages, the restriction on the labor movements by the local authorities, and the poor […]
  • The Universality of Human Rights In contrast to the other institutions that suggest a single form of the notion existing in the given society, the area of human rights allows to switch the shapes of the very notion of human […]
  • Effects of War on Humanity in Terms of Human Rights The effects not only affect the coalition governments in war, but also members of the attacked countries for instance, Iraq people recorded the greatest number of fatalities and casualties during the Iraq war.
  • Torture and Human Rights Violation The researcher notes that the government never provided a clear explanation of the events and their position on the possibility of resorting to torture.
  • Human Rights in Serial ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Freedom of choice comprises one of the constituents of a wider debate going to the society under the umbrella of human rights.
  • United States and UAE Human Rights Comparison The nation’s denial of freedom of expression and religion, as well as its discrimination against women and the punishment of same-sex intercourse with the death penalty, are among the most prominent issues.
  • The Origin of the Human Rights Concept This point out to the fact that there were rights in the document that are common to different parts of the world and that they were not only obtained from the western nations’ practices of […]
  • The Case of Malala: Is Education a Basic Human Right? Additionally, understanding the social and cultural dimensions of gender inequality in education allows one to determine the policy issues that cause the problem and thus establish a mechanism for preventing its reoccurrence in the future.
  • Shirin Ebadi’s Perspective on Women’s Human Rights Activism and Islam It is worth noting that Shirin Ebadi’s self-identity as an Iranian woman and a Muslim empowers her experience and perspective in women’s rights activism.
  • Prisoners’ Human Rights Denial Human rights watch is required to create a standardized list of rights and guarantees that should affect both domestic and international institutions in order to ensure the application of basic human rights, such as the […]
  • The concept of Human Rights Many of the fundamental initiatives, which animated the human rights movement, emerged in the after effects of the World War II and the mayhem of the Holocaust, leading to the legitimation of the Universal Declaration […]
  • Social Media: A Force for Political and Human Rights Changes Worldwide In this essay, I will discuss the effectiveness of traditional media and social media, and how social media has a better participation in changing the world in terms of politics and human rights.
  • “Women’s Rights Are Human Rights” by Hillary Clinton Hillary Clinton’s speech about women’s rights effectively convinces her audience that women rights are an indispensable part of human rights through the use of logical argument, repetition, historical facts, and emotional stories.
  • Human Rights in the Movie Escape From Sobibor As a result of the escape, the Nazi Authorities were made to shutdown the camp and planted trees The Second World War was a period during which a lot of violations of the human rights […]
  • Human Rights Violations in Today’s World This paper addresses questions regarding human rights, including the United Nations’ involvement in enforcing those rights violations and the role of non-governmental organizations in addressing the issue.
  • How Corruption Violates Fundamental Human Rights of Citizens This essay seeks to establish how corruption leads to breach of fundamental human rights of citizens and determine which rights in particular are mostly risky due to corruption.
  • Human Rights History and Approaches Further development of the concept of human rights was reflected in the European Middle Ages, the eras of renaissance and enlightenment, and the idea of empowering all people, based on the concept of “natural law”.
  • Human Rights, Education and Awareness But the progress is underway, and while there is still much to be done in terms of securing even the basic human rights, the strategies and the general principles of achieving equality can be outlined.
  • The Challenge of Human Rights and Cultural Diversity It is however true that the existence of universal human rights is compromised by cultural relativism. In addition, it is wrong to assume that cultural relativism would interfere with the efficacy of these universal human […]
  • History II, Early Human Rights Debates: The Truth About Pirates and the Social Justification The reading by Mark Roth describes the hidden historical truth behind pirates and their deceptive view by the modern society. This historical document depicts one of the earliest accounts of the mistreatment of Native Americans […]
  • Human Rights Violations by Police: Accountable in Discharging Their Duties Corey in his study and reflection on two mass exonerations, that is, the Rampart and Tulia exonerations, identified police misconduct, and in particular perjury as the primary cause for wrongful convictions.
  • International Human Rights Law The civil and political rights preceded the origins of the economic, social, and cultural rights, and thus they are deemed as second-generation rights.
  • Challenges for Universal Human Rights These leaders tend to look at interpretations of human rights in the West as distinct to their economic and social backgrounds. Trying to instate universal human rights would therefore be seen as a method of […]
  • Social Media and Human Rights Memorandum Considering a recent scandal with Facebook’s failure to protect people’s data in the Cambridge Analytica breach, it is feasible to dwell on the topic of human rights protection within the Internet.
  • Human Rights and Dignity: Non-Western Conceptions It has been accepted that human rights are the notion which was developed in the West, however, some scientists tried to contradict this idea presenting the arguments that many nations battled for human rights many […]
  • Basic Human Rights Violation The Human Rights Watch was formed in the year 1978 following the creation of the Helsinki Watch. The issue of terrorism has posed the greatest challenge in the operations of the Human Rights Watch.
  • Global Community and Human Rights The development of a global community holds a lot of promise for the improvement of human rights. This is attainable by implementing a common code of human rights across the globe along the lines of […]
  • Definition of Human Rights Human rights are freedoms established by custom or international agreement that impose standards of conduct on all nations.
  • Theocratic Government’s Census and Human Rights The primary idea of the paper is to disclose moral opacities of the issue, conduct stakeholder impact analysis, and speculate on the collision of values of the theocratic governments and people.
  • Thomas Jefferson as a Defender of Human Rights In conclusion, Thomas Jefferson was a steadfast defender of human rights, but most importantly, he fought for the rights of black people.
  • Strategic Planning: Human Rights Watch The company’s competitive position represents the largest coverage of countries in various areas: monitoring military conflicts, protecting access to medicine, addressing and the rights of vulnerable segments of the population.
  • Human Rights and Justice Sector: Article Review The central problem is the complex of new African American control institutions made up of the carceral system and the ruins of the dark ghetto.
  • The Native Human Rights: Intergenerational Trauma Following are some strategies for addressing Indian citizens’ unique status, ways in which the fundamental right of Indians adheres, the practice of civil rights, the right to ownership of water, the right to be allowed […]
  • Human Rights Reforms in the Arab World In modern history, the theme of human rights reformations in the Arab World has been influenced by the French and America Revolutions.
  • Freedom of Speech as a Basic Human Right Restricting or penalizing freedom of expression is thus a negative issue because it confines the population of truth, as well as rationality, questioning, and the ability of people to think independently and express their thoughts.
  • Violation of Human Rights: Tuskegee Syphilis Study The authors of the study and the authorities tried to justify human rights violations by saying that they were analyzing the effects of fully developing syphilis on Black males.
  • Human Rights Violation in US Sports Despite the advancement in human rights in the most significant part of society, sports in various parts of the globe continue to cultivate actions of human rights violation.
  • The Natural Human Right to Life: A Case Analysis One of such laws is the right to life, which an unknown shooter violated in a train carriage. The principle of justice is also violated since the identity of the murderer has not yet been […]
  • Cultural Heritage and Human Rights in France For example, the imagination of the inhabitants of this region manifested itself vividly in many ways during the development and construction of the famous Notre Dame Cathedral.
  • Retirement Options: Putting Human Rights to Work The employers consider terminating the old employees for their personal safety and the company’s economic stability. Therefore, public awareness stimulates action against discrimination and allows the employees to support the older people at work.
  • Environmental, Social, and Governance Relating to Human Rights It is impossible to ignore the fact that the ESG trend can significantly affect the sphere of human rights in the energy sector.
  • Biomedical Research Ethics and Human Rights This paper aims to discuss the impact of the history of research ethics on modern approaches and the protection of the rights of human subjects.
  • The Absolute Human Right Not to Be Tortured The case against the prohibition of absoluteness contrary to torment and associated types of cruelty in universal law queries the ethical and legal conventions that form the foundation of the event of terrorism.
  • Human Rights Issues: Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans Hurricane Katrina is considered one of the worst calamities in the history of the United States. The law of the United States gives the government the responsibility to protect the lives of its citizens.
  • Rhetoric and Reality of Human Rights Protection For example, the prohibition of homosexuality in many countries of Africa and the Middle East, the restriction of China and Russia’s citizen’s freedoms, and the dictatorship of Africa and Latin America.
  • Why Do Good? Human Rights Violations in Afghanistan To be more specific, this is because the main essence of Bentham’s philosophical standpoint is that only those actions which bring happiness and pleasure to others are morally right.
  • Human Rights and the United Nations Charter The most significant resemblance of the New Laws of The Indies and Human Rights Law of the United Nations is the obligation to consider human rights as the primary basis for establishing the local regulations.
  • Understanding Human Rights in Australia Needless to say, the key objective of this Act has been to improve the standards of legislation processes in the region.
  • Understanding of Human Rights This provides us with a clue, as to what should account for the line of legal reasoning, regarding the illegality of the ‘burqa ban’, on the part of French Muslims in the European Court of […]
  • Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Protest as a Violation of Human Rights Standing Rock claims that the pipeline would damage the sacred sites of their ancestors and is potentially harmful to the local environment and the economic situation of the tribe.
  • Bridging the Line Between a Human Right and a Worker’s Choice Workers’ rights, in that sense, constitute one of the most important aspects of the human rights issue because many workers are willing to face peril if the market is able to pay a sufficient price.
  • “Universal” Human Rights Agreement: Is It Possible? They can be defined as the freedoms and rights that all people in the world are endowed with from birth to death.
  • The UN Declaration of Human Rights & The UN Millennium Project Human rights are “international norms that help to protect all people everywhere from severe political, legal, and social abuses”.
  • Labor and Monopoly. Human Rights Simultaneously, the laborers do not enjoy any control on design and production over the work, thus, the staff are uncomfortable with their work. However, in the case of flight attendants, the profession is different in […]
  • Reaction Paper about Treaty Bodies of Human Rights 2020 Therefore, it is important to evaluate the prospects of budget issues due to COVID-19, communication challenges due to reduced human contacts and pandemic concerns affecting human right defense as well as the general secretary’s rejection […]
  • Human Rights in Islam and West Instead, it would stick to drafting standards and stay out of the actual developments and problems of the Stalinist Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and its colonies, and the segregationist United States and other powers […]
  • African Human Rights Protection Many human rights activists have come forward to champion the rights of the minorities and in some instances agitate for democratic governance.
  • Joseph Kony’s Violations of Human Rights Even so, conflicts in the 21st century are unique in that the warring parties are obliged to follow some rules of engagement and to respect human rights.
  • Human Rights: Violated Historical and Ethical Principles The people in most of the research did not have a choice. The people in the experiments did not have the right to beneficence.
  • Public International Law of Human Rights The present paper examines three important decisions issued by the International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights in the field of state responsibility, human rights, and rights and duties of international […]
  • US & UK Human Rights While Countering Terrorism The threat of terror and the further legal reactions of the nations to the problem were considered as challenging, and it is necessary to examine differences and similarities associated with the promotion of human rights […]
  • Dignity: Is It a Basic Human Right and How to Protect of Self-Worth and Self-Determination? The problem has raised the issue of assisted suicide to end a life of suffering and the role of such a patient in deciding when and how they will die rather than waiting for the […]
  • International Human Rights Opinion and Removing a Constitutionally Elected Government in Fiji It is believed that the gross overreaction of the military in the internal affairs of the Methodist church in Fiji has paved the way for international focus to be centered in this island, especially in […]
  • Human Rights Act 1998 in British Legal System The safeguard of British liberty is in the good sense of the people and in the system of representative and responsible government which has been evolved”.[The Business of Judging] Such an approach isolated British constitutional […]
  • Human Rights in Russia: A 2020 Report Concentrating on the Last Changes Overall, expert opinion on the outcomes of human rights in Russia in the future shows a lack of certainty the country’s record of infringements is going to improve. It is imperative to support the promotion […]
  • Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Daily Briefs UN experts and ambassadors of foreign countries, including the US and the EU, responded to this violation, calling not to use weapons and allow the people to express their will.
  • Will the Development of Artificial Intelligence Endanger Global Human Rights? The contradiction between the advantages of AI and the limitation of human rights manifests in the field of personal privacy to a larger extent.
  • St. Johns Agency and Human Rights: Universal Policies to Support Human Rights The right to health as an inclusive right is one of the elements which states that the right is not only associated with access to health care facilities and services. The company incorporates various aspects […]
  • Universal Human Rights on The Case of MV Tampa On the other hand, the country was enforcing its own right to protect the citizens from the perceived danger a justified precaution in light of numerous cases of illegal immigration and terrorist attacks.
  • Human Rights Obligations of Multinational Corporations The argument of whether it is valid to impose obligations on violation of human rights on MNCs calls to reason the minimum caliber MNCs should maintain in their obligations towards human rights.
  • Human Rights Issues in Australia: Bullying Among School-Going Age and Young People The focus of the topic of the day is on bullying. It is used to prevent or avoid the occurrence of a bullying experience.
  • Tortures as the Form of Human Rights Abuse The law of the country must allow persons tortured in any form to be permitted to make an official complaint and investigation to be started on the credibility of the person.
  • Human Rights and Global Democracy by Michael Goodhart Considering that the current human rights bodies focus mostly on rights of individuals, there is needs for translating the rights in a global context.
  • Is FGM a Human Rights Issue in the Development of Humanism and Equality? Among the problems faced by developed states that receive migrants from third-world countries, the protection of women’s and girls’ rights in the field of reproductive health stands out.
  • Cultural Values vs. the UN Declaration of Human Rights With the rise in diversity and the focus on the cross-cultural dialogue, the importance of acknowledging cultural values has risen.
  • United States Role in Support of Universal Human Rights The first thing is to put an end to extrajudicial killings and detentions which will be in a bid to end intrusion to the freedom and the right to truth and justice.
  • Universal Jurisdiction for Human Rights One of the most prominent roles in this process was played by the implementation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the UN, by the development of the national and intercultural awareness of various […]
  • Human Rights: Humanitarian Intervention Some of these are the right to liberty, the right to life, the right of the freedom to think and express oneself, and finally the right to receive equal handling as regards issues relating to […]
  • A “Human Rights” Approach to Imprisonment In Europe human rights in prisons are overseen by the Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
  • Social Factors in the US History: Respect for Human Rights, Racial Equality, and Religious Freedom The very first years of the existence of the country were marked by the initiatives of people to provide as much freedom in all aspects of social life as possible.
  • South Africa: Human Rights in the Constitution The Bill of Rights serves as the foundation upon which the democratic character of the Republic of South Africa is built.
  • Human Rights in the Disaster Capitalism Context By the word human rights, it is generally meant to be the protection of individual rights against the encroachment by the state and it also means the basic rights and freedom of individuals.
  • Human Rights: Development, Commission, Listening, Monitoring The final draft of the Declaration was handed to the Commission being held in Geneva, therefore, the draft declaration that was sent to all UN member states for commentary is known as the Geneva draft.
  • Human Rights in China, Tibet and Dafur In spite of the progress, achieved in the process of regulating the situation, and the ongoing process of peaceful settlement, the atmosphere of intensity is preserved in the country, and scale military attacks on innocent […]
  • The Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights should be analyzed within the context of the political, cultural, and religious situation, emerging in the middle of the twentieth century.
  • Vehicle Impoundment “HOON” Laws Are an Infringement of People’s Human Rights The other dimension presents the argument that the laws are meant for the well being of the pepole articulating that the legislation is in fact designed for the protection of the civil rights of the […]
  • Global Human Rights: The European Court of Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights, or officially called Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms became one of the most significant documents accepted by the Council of Europe.
  • Human Rights and International Business The article deals with the crisis in Burma and the role of India and China in this crisis. Even though it might appear that the major theme of discussion is international politics, from the first […]
  • Human Rights Violation in Kosovo The paper has discussed the massive violation of Human Rights in Kosovo, The International Community’s reaction and actions to the Kosovo crisis, and i have given my suggestions to the community on regard to Kosovo […]
  • How Has Globalization Impacted on Issues of Human Rights? William Adler closely examines the disrupted lives of the three women who occupy an assembly-line job as the job and its company moves from New Jersey to rural Mississippi and to Matamoros, Mexico, across the […]
  • Protecting America: Security and Human Rights 2007) After the 9/11 bombings of the World Trade Center, the US government under President Bush executed and implemented a series of actions that catapulted the country to a period of war.
  • Basic Technology and Human Rights If some people are able to enjoy the facilities being introduced as a result of technological improvisations, and it reaches to a chosen few, with no chance in sight of reaching out to large number […]
  • Refugee Women and Their Human Rights According to the researches have been made by UNHCR, 1998, found that 80% of the refugees immigrating to the United States and other countries of second asylum are women or children.
  • Human Systems. Technology as a Human Right Since most of the world bodies continue to use the basic technology to communicate with the world e.g.about health and safety, access to these amodern’ basic technology should be regarded as a human right and […]
  • Human Rights: Fredin v. Sweden Legal Case In this situation, the court considered a case that affected the protection of nature and the human right to own property and sentenced in favor of the state.
  • Human Rights and Security in Post-Soviet Russia The collapse of the Soviet Union marked the end of the Cold War and the polarization of the world. On the one hand, the collapse of the Soviet Union led to the rapid acceleration of […]
  • Global and Regional Human Rights Institutions Overall, the topic of human rights and their protection through economic sanctions and other strategies requires additional attention from the states and international institutions.
  • Prisoners’ Basic Human Rights and Their Violation In the report, McKelvie et al.highlight the important contradictions behind the blanket ban, namely the lack of understanding behind the purpose of the prison, the influence of the media and the public press, as well […]
  • Human Rights of Migrants by Francois Crepeau The report by Francois Crepeau addresses the deaths of migrants in the central Mediterranean Sea and evaluates the European Union border control analysis, migration policy, and the application of values and human rights in the […]
  • The U.S. and the UAE Human Rights Comparison A detailed analysis of the two nations can reveal significant and noteworthy differences between the overall attitudes of the U.S.and UAE.
  • Monsanto: Profits, Laws, and Human Rights Although the majority of multinational giants have affirmed their conviction in upholding the letter of the law and professional ethics, in practice, a good portion of them has issues with either the ethical or the […]
  • Malala Yousafzai – Pakistani Human Rights Activist The world learned about the girl after a gunman burst into a school bus and shot the girl in the head, thereby avenging her criticism of the Taliban and neglecting the prohibition to attend school.
  • Human Rights and Laws on the International Level Zewei provides a characterization of the Tributary System and the concept of the Celestial Order of China, the impact of international law on China’s Confucianism worldview, and the process of integration of international law into […]
  • Human Rights Issues During the Holiday Season Should we stick to the habitual “Merry Christmas” and stay loyal to the traditions of the majority or embrace a more neutral “Happy Holidays” and show respect to the cultural diversity?
  • R. Lemkin and E. Roosevelt as Human Rights Activists He devoted all his time and energy to trying to persuade the new delegates of the United Nations of the importance of the fight against genocide.
  • Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice It is essential to highlight the contributions of Ghonim because he was one of the first to leverage the use of social media.
  • Human Rights Poster Design and Analysis First, I realised that placing the title or theme of the poster at a strategic point goes a long way to draw the attention of the target audience.
  • Human Rights of Poor in Developing Countries Their interactions with those in authority and the decision makers in the society have been marred with many obstacles and denied the rights to freedom of speech and expression that is being enjoyed by the […]
  • Communication as a Human Right and Its Violations According to the international laws, every person has a range of rights which should be met in the society completely, and the right to communicate is one of the most significant ways for a person […]
  • Human Rights and Relations in Education and Career The information is located on the left and above and is easy to navigate. This is useful to the employees as it makes them aware of the key needs to the job and the benefits.
  • China’s Land Grabs and Human Rights Violation What interested you about the article and how is the content of the article related to aspects of global citizenship? Upon reading the news article from Amnesty International’s website about Chinese officials’ land grabbing […]
  • The Human Rights and Its Basic Principles There is a perspective that the initiation of the given process can be justified by the need to protect citizens and the state.
  • Human Rights in Naturalistic and Political Conceptions Conferring to one venerable explanation, the Naturalistic Conception of Human rights, human rights are the privileges and rights that we enjoy by the mere fact that we are humans.
  • Chile’s Human Rights Violations in 1973-90 After the death of the president, the military took office and a state of civil unrest engulfed the country. Human rights violations experienced in Chile have been highlighted and the actions are taken to address […]
  • Islamic Culture, Its History and Human Rights The Christian and Jewish cultures gradually reshaped the Arabian Peninsula; people of Arabia became more accustomed to the concept of Abrahamic religion, while paganism was on the decline. Various forms of arts flourished in the […]
  • History of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Things did not look too bright at the time: the condition of Japan after Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings; the divided Koreas; the beginning of the cold war between the Soviet Union and the U.
  • Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies for Human Rights Established in 1919 as the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the organization has been very instrumental in championing the improvement of human rights and the reduction of human suffering.
  • Equality, Diversity and Human Rights in Healthcare Equity can be achieved in a health system that acknowledges the diversity of the population respecting the expectations and needs of the patients, the staff and the services as a whole.
  • Syrian Crisis and Human Rights Instruments However, the increase in the number of migrants triggers a range of concerns for the states that they choose as the target location.
  • Culture and Religion in Human Rights Universality Fagan asserts that a commitment to the universal legitimacy of human rights is not consistent with the dedication to the principle of respecting cultural diversity.
  • Consequentialism and Human Rights Ethics is a moral code that governs the behavior or conduct of an activity.”Ethics is thus said to be the science of conduct”.
  • The Evolution of Human Rights: France vs. America The Age of Enlightenment made human rights one of the major concerns of the world community, which led to the American and French Revolutions the turning points in the struggle for justice.
  • Ethical Reasoning Theories and Human Rights Utilitarianism involves the assessment of the consequences of any action taken by the business since it involves a common good for the majority.
  • Human Rights and Resistance of South Asia To get an in-depth understanding of the question and discuss it appropriately, we will refer to the status of women in South Asia where women’s rights are still discriminated in the light of social and […]
  • Domestic Legal Traditions and State’ Human Rights It is the obligation of every state to adhere to the human rights standard. One of the greatest similarities is that most of the countries have almost the same laws.
  • The Issues of Human Rights The scope of this review starts from the history of Labour Human Rights and examines how various authors have presented their case studies regarding the effectiveness or lack of it of the policies that govern […]
  • International Justice for Human Rights Violation In order to understand the status of these amendments, it is important to appreciate the relevance of the definition given in reference to acts and the crime of aggression.
  • Human Rights and Climate Change Policy-Making Advocates of the inclusion of human rights feel that there is an important link between climate impacts and human rights and as such, integrating the two would promote the formulation of the best policies. Specifically, […]
  • Just War in Human Rights Perspective When a war is about to begin, people, who start the war, have to understand the role of human rights in the process of making decisions and clearly identify the peculiarities of the just war.
  • The Human Right to Privacy: Microsoft and the NSA Microsoft had started to collaborate with the NSA to help it to offer services to its customers, but as they progressed, the NSA began to access all the programs of the Microsoft that made private […]
  • Child Labor Issue According to the Human Rights The International Labor Organization defines child labor as “work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential, and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development”1 Being a United Nations agency, ILO […]
  • Economics and Human Rights: Areas of Overlap Theories allied to the two disciplines play a critical role in explaining development because human rights theories give economists an opportunity to employ legal and political concepts in the process of drafting policies aimed at […]
  • Human Rights Abuses and Death Penalty in the UAE There are many explanations of why a number of Arab people remain to be vulnerable to abuses and violations of human rights. Besides, many people are still challenged by the inability to participate in the […]
  • Human Rights and Legal Framework in Poor Countries In this article, Benton traces the origin of international order to the 17th century. Moreover, Benton claims that the two approaches have been utilized to explain effect of imperial administration on trends in international law.
  • Women’s Fight for Equal Human Rights According to the readings assigned, the term feminist could be used to refer to people who fought for the rights of women.
  • Immigrants’ Human Rights in America: The Issue of Immigration as Old as the Country In order to make the constitution a living document, America should introduce effective measures in ensuring that the rights of all immigrants are fully recognized, secured and protected.
  • The Human Right to Water: History, Meaning and Controversy The utilitarianism theory of ethics relates to the welfare rights and the libertarianism theory of ethics relates to the liberty rights.
  • The Evolution of Human Rights in Canada In addition, the movements aided the treaties to champion for the acquisition of rights of associations and political developments among the indigenous communities living in Canada.
  • Human Rights and Their Role in Public Opinion Making The quest for human rights create a mental picture that draws the audience’s assumed knowledge of the need to end the restrictions of human beings in their endeavor to reach out to greatness in life.
  • Human Rights and Intervention in Public Opinion Making According to Bloomer, human rights demonstrate the public ideas that are used in the media and politics to ensure that they reflect the true meaning of the intended actions.
  • Gender Studies: Queer Politics and Human Rights As earlier stated, the idea of queer politics came about to confront injustice and to ensure that the rights of the minority groups in the society are respected.
  • Human Rights Issues in the Bahrain Members of the Sunni minority are the rulers of the monarchy; the present king is Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, and he has held the office since 1999.
  • Conflict Over Human Rights The following discussion is a description concerning the conflicts between Iran and the United States in the promotion of human rights some violations of human rights by Iran, such as abuse of the captives.
  • Human Rights in Relation to Catholic Theology The church declared the acts of slavery as infamy and conjured to discourage slavery since it was dishonored God and destroyed the lived of many people.
  • The Ontario Human Rights Commission Application forms for job seekers and the process of interviewing applicants are usually subjected to all the mentioned elements of prejudice and discrimination.
  • Torture and Human Rights However, the full state of affairs in Abu Ghraib prison came to the knowledge of the public when a report by the military into the first pictures leaked to an online magazine.
  • Why Migration Cannot Be a Basic Human Right but Always Been a Part of Human Culture The United Nations has acknowledged the individual right of movement with Article 13-2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stating, “Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return […]
  • Human Rights Violations in Chile In order to confront past abuses and human rights violations, both civilian collaborators and the past military officers who took part in the violations have been taken through the prosecution process owing to the torture […]
  • Human Rights in 21st Century: China Although there have been cases of human rights violations in China, recent events and efforts depict the country as working towards promoting individual rights.
  • Faith, Justice, War – and Human Rights in the Realm of the Present-Day World Quran: The Most Ancient and Sacred Islamic Book as the Basis for the Laws on Human Rights Considering the Issue from a Different Perspective: The Fifteen Postulates Security of life and property: bi-al haqq and […]
  • Ethical Relativism in Human Rights To support this point of view, the nature of human society, the standardization of human rights and the progress of human rights will be analyzed.
  • Human Rights and NGOs In the world today, there are numerous international human rights treaties which stipulate the obligations of states, and the rights of the citizens in these states and beyond2.
  • Human Rights Issues in Guantanamo Bay It is expressed in the article that although the detainees are international criminals, the move by the US to detain them at the Guantanamo Bay is an abuse of international laws on the human rights.
  • The Human Rights Violation in the Republic of Korea The human rights situation under President Kim Jong-Un in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has remained dire due to the government’s unwillingness to yield to the recommendations by the United Nations Human Rights Council’s […]
  • Gender and Human Rights The concept of a Human of Rights introduced by Foucault in 1950s, and also referred to as humanity is traditionally defined as a “floating signifier” and is related directly to the idea of human rights.
  • The Politics of International Human Rights Law To uphold the reliability of the country’s immigration programs, the policy requires three categories of immigrants to be subjected to compulsory incarceration.
  • Universal Declaration of Human Rights UDHR is quite relevant to human service professionals in the field of domestic disputes. The assertions of UDHR’s article 25 are important to domestic dispute professionals.
  • Turkey, Media and Human Rights According the report, “press freedom, freedom of opinion and expression and presumption of innocence should be exercised within the articles of the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey, Turkish Supreme Court decisions and judgments of […]
  • Paul Farmer about the Human Rights As a result, Farmer argued that the current struggle for the essential and most vital human rights was to promote the social, as well as the economic rights of the poor individuals around the globe.
  • “Feminism, Peace, Human Rights and Human Security” by Charlotte Bunch
  • Impacts of the ‘War on Terror’ on Human Rights
  • The Objectives of Women in the International Community
  • McDonald’s: Human Rights and Environmental Sustainability
  • Human Rights Violations in Turkey
  • Human Rights of People With Intellectual Disabilities
  • The Effect of Terrorism on Human Rights: The Clash Between the Human Rights Advocates and Victims of Terrorism
  • The European Human Rights System
  • Current Human Rights Issues
  • Human Rights Interventions
  • Fighting for Human Rights: Somalia Humanitarian Crisis
  • Human Rights and Social Transformation
  • The Role of Non-state Actors in the Implementation and Monitoring of Human Rights
  • The UN Human Rights System
  • The European System of Human Rights
  • What Are Human Rights?
  • Human Rights: Universalism, Marxism, Communitarianism
  • Environmental Groups’ and Human Rights Organization Strategies
  • Immigrants and Human Rights
  • Human Rights in History Teaching
  • Is Universal Healthcare a Human Right?
  • Confucianism and its Effects on Human Rights Development
  • Debate Between John Stuart Mill and Immanuel Kant Theories on the Sources of Human Rights
  • United Nations Human Rights Council
  • Critique of the U.S & the U.N Universal Declaration of Human Rights
  • Impact of Human Rights on Society
  • Definition of Human Rights and Trafficking
  • Human Rights in Asia
  • Human rights and freedoms
  • The human rights in the USA and around the world
  • International Law & Protection of Human Rights: Syria and Libya
  • On What Grounds is the Idea of Universal Human Rights Challenged?
  • Human Rights Non-Governmental Organizations and the United Nations
  • Freedom from Poverty as a Human Right and the UN Declaration of Human Rights
  • Advancement of Human Rights from 1865 to Present
  • Disabled Babies Have Human Rights Which We Must Let Them Enjoy
  • The Impact of Human Right on Globalization
  • Concerning the Human Rights of Immigrants: Policies, Approaches and Stereotypes
  • Protection of Human Rights of Immigrants
  • What is the UN Human Rights Council?
  • The Taliban and Human Rights
  • New “Act on Democracy and Human Rights in Belarus” Passed by the US Congress
  • Through the Prism of Culture: Human Rights as They Are
  • Compare Two Movies Related With Human Rights
  • Human Rights: Analysis of Ludlow Massacre and the “Valour and the Horror”
  • Ang Lee’s Attempts to Develop an Idea of Human Rights in Hulk, Brokeback Mountain, and Sense and Sensibility
  • Saddam Hussein Human Rights Abuse
  • The Cold War: Global Prosperity and Human Rights
  • Human Rights in Catholic Teachings
  • Abusing Human Rights: Violence Against Women
  • What if Environmental Rights Are More Important Than Human Rights?
  • How Did the Development of Human Rights Affect the Caste System in India?
  • Should Men and Women Have Equal Human Rights?
  • How Are Human Rights Observed During Early Childhood?
  • What Are the Barriers to Human Rights Being Recognized as Truly Universal in Application?
  • How Does Criminal Justice in the United Kingdom Respect Human Rights?
  • What Is the Role of the National Human Rights Commission?
  • How Are Human Rights Abused in India?
  • What Is the Relationship Between Human Rights and State Sovereignty?
  • How Are Human Rights Observed in Islamic Countries?
  • What Are Human Rights and From Where Do They Originate?
  • How Were Human Rights Violated During the French Revolution?
  • How Human Rights Affect Administrative Law?
  • What Human Rights Dilemmas Do Social Workers Face?
  • How Does Political Corruption Violate Human Rights?
  • Who Practices Rights-based Development?
  • When Religious Beliefs Overpower Human Rights?
  • Why Does China Have Such a Poor Record of Human Rights?
  • How Does Human Rights Affect Multi-national Companies on Their Marketing Strategies?
  • What Is the History of the Spread of Human Rights in the World and the Obstacles in Its Way?
  • What Are the Human Rights for Persons With Mental Disorders?
  • How Are Human Rights Abused in the Absence of Oversight?
  • What Is the Economic Impact on Human Rights in China?
  • Why Have Many Human Rights Issues Remained Unaddressed?
  • What Are the Concepts and Meaning of Human Rights in Society?
  • What Effect Has the Human Rights Act 1998 Had on UK Law?
  • How Do Self-determination Issues Affect Human Rights?
  • Impact of Economic Liberalization on Human Rights?
  • How Does Global Politics Affect Human Rights?
  • Should Nature Have Constitutionally Protected Rights Equal to Human Rights?
  • Chicago (A-D)
  • Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2024, February 29). 240 Human Rights Essay Topics & Examples. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/human-rights-essay-examples/

"240 Human Rights Essay Topics & Examples." IvyPanda , 29 Feb. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/topic/human-rights-essay-examples/.

IvyPanda . (2024) '240 Human Rights Essay Topics & Examples'. 29 February.

IvyPanda . 2024. "240 Human Rights Essay Topics & Examples." February 29, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/human-rights-essay-examples/.

1. IvyPanda . "240 Human Rights Essay Topics & Examples." February 29, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/human-rights-essay-examples/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "240 Human Rights Essay Topics & Examples." February 29, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/human-rights-essay-examples/.

  • Children’s Rights Research Ideas
  • Humanism Research Ideas
  • Civil Rights Movement Questions
  • Women’s Rights Titles
  • Human Nature Essay Titles
  • Animal Rights Research Ideas
  • Bill of Rights Research Ideas
  • Activist Essay Titles
  • Constitution Research Ideas
  • Discrimination Essay Titles
  • Equality Topics
  • Criminal Justice Essay Topics
  • Police Brutality Questions
  • Corruption Ideas
  • Libertarianism Research Topics

Critical Legal Thinking

Seven Theses on Human Rights: (1) The Idea of Humanity

by Costas Douzinas | 16 May 2013

Jheronimus_Bosch

If ‘humanity’ is the normative source of moral and legal rules, do we know what ‘humanity’ is? Important philosophical and ontological questions are involved here. Let me have a brief look at its history.

Pre-modern societies did not develop a comprehensive idea of the human species. Free men were Athenians or Spartans, Romans or Carthaginians, but not members of humanity; they were Greeks or barbarians, but not humans. According to classical philosophy, a teleologically determined human nature distributes people across social hierarchies and roles and endows them with differentiated characteristics. The word humanitas appeared for the first time in the Roman Republic as a translation of the Greek word paideia. It was defined as eruditio et institutio in bonas artes (the closest modern equivalent is the German Bildung ). The Romans inherited the concept from Stoicism and used it to distinguish between the homo humanus, the educated Roman who was conversant with Greek culture and philosophy and was subjected to the jus civile , and the homines barbari, who included the majority of the uneducated non-Roman inhabitants of the Empire. Humanity enters the western lexicon as an attribute and predicate of homo , as a term of separation and distinction. For Cicero as well as the younger Scipio, humanitas implies generosity, politeness, civilization, and culture and is opposed to barbarism and animality. 1 Hannah Arendt, On Revolution (New York: Viking Press, 1965), 107. “Only those who conform to certain standards are really men in the full sense, and fully merit the adjective ‘human’ or the attribute ‘humanity.’” 2 B.L. Ullman, “What are the Humanities?” Journal of Higher Education 17/6 (1946), at 302. Hannah Arendt puts it sarcastically: ‘a human being or homo in the original meaning of the word indicates someone outside the range of law and the body politic of the citizens, as for instance a slave – but certainly a politically irrelevant being.’ 3 H.C. Baldry, The Unity of Mankind in Greek Thought , (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1965), 201.

If we now turn to the political and legal uses of humanitas , a similar history emerges. The concept ‘humanity’ has been consistently used to separate, distribute, and classify people into rulers, ruled, and excluded. ‘Humanity’ acts as a normative source for politics and law against a background of variable inhumanity. This strategy of political separation curiously entered the historical stage at the precise point when the first proper universalist conception of humanitas emerged in Christian theology, captured in the St Paul’s statement, that there is no Greek or Jew, man or woman, free man or slave (Epistle to the Galatians 3:28). All people are equally part of humanity because they can be saved in God’s plan of salvation and, secondly, because they share the attributes of humanity now sharply differentiated from a transcended divinity and a subhuman animality. For classical humanism, reason determines the human: man is a zoon logon echon or animale rationale . For Christian metaphysics, on the other hand, the immortal soul, both carried and imprisoned by the body, is the mark of humanity. The new idea of universal equality, unknown to the Greeks, entered the western world as a combination of classical and Christian metaphysics.

The divisive action of ‘humanity’ survived the invention of its spiritual equality. Pope, Emperor, Prince, and King, these representatives and disciples of God on earth were absolute rulers. Their subjects, the sub-jecti or sub-diti , take the law and their commands from their political superiors. More importantly, people will be saved in Christ only if they accept the faith, since non-Christians have no place in the providential plan. This radical divide and exclusion founded the ecumenical mission and proselytizing drive of Church and Empire. Christ’s spiritual law of love turned into a battle cry: let us bring the pagans to the grace of God, let us make the singular event of Christ universal, let us impose the message of truth and love upon the whole world. The classical separation between Greek (or human) and barbarian was based on clearly demarcated territorial and linguistic frontiers. In the Christian empire, the frontier was internalized and split the known globe diagonally between the faithful and the heathen. The barbarians were no longer beyond the city as the city expanded to include the known world. They became ‘enemies within’ to be appropriately corrected or eliminated if they stubbornly refused spiritual or secular salvation.

The meaning of humanity after the conquest of the ‘New World’ was vigorously contested in one of the most important public debates in history. In April 1550, Charles V of Spain called a council of state in Valladolid to discuss the Spanish attitude towards the vanquished Indians of Mexico. The philosopher Ginés de Sepulveda and the Bishop Bartholomé de las Casas, two major figures of the Spanish Enlightenment, debated on opposite sides. Sepulveda, who had just translated Aristotle’s Politics into Spanish, argued that “the Spaniards rule with perfect right over the barbarians who, in prudence, talent, virtue, humanity are as inferior to the Spaniards as children to adults, women to men, the savage and cruel to the mild and gentle, I might say as monkey to men.” 4 Ginés de Sepulveda, Democrates Segundo of De las Justas Causa de la Guerra contra los Indios (Madrid: Institute Fransisco de Vitoria, 1951), 33 quoted in Tzvetan Todorov, The Conquest of America trans. Richard Howard (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999), 153.  The Spanish crown should feel no qualms in dealing with Indian evil. The Indians could be enslaved and treated as barbarian and savage slaves in order to be civilized and proselytized.

Las Casas disagreed. The Indians have well-established customs and settled ways of life, he argued, they value prudence and have the ability to govern and organize families and cities. They have the Christian virtues of gentleness, peacefulness, simplicity, humility, generosity, and patience, and are waiting to be converted. They look like our father Adam before the Fall, wrote las Casas in his Apologia, they are ‘unwitting’ Christians. In an early definition of humanism, las Casas argued that “all the people of the world are humans under the only one definition of all humans and of each one, that is that they are rational … Thus all races of humankind are one.” 5 Bartholomé de las Casas, Obras Completas , Vol. 7 (Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 1922), 536–7.  His arguments combined Christian theology and political utility. Respecting local customs is good morality but also good politics: the Indians would convert to Christianity (las Casas’ main concern) but also accept the authority of the Crown and replenish its coffers, if they were made to feel that their traditions, laws, and cultures are respected. But las Casas’ Christian universalism was, like all universalisms, exclusive. He repeatedly condemned “Turks and Moors, the veritable barbarian outcasts of the nations” since they cannot be seen as “unwitting” Christians. An “empirical” universalism of superiority and hierarchy (Sepulveda) and a normative one of truth and love (las Casas) end up being not very different. As Tzvetan Todorov pithily remarks, there is “violence in the conviction that one possesses the truth oneself, whereas this is not the case for others, and that one must furthermore impose that truth on those others.” 6 Todorov, The Conquest of America 166, 168.

The conflicting interpretations of humanity by Sepulveda and las Casas capture the dominant ideologies of Western empires, imperialisms, and colonialisms. At one end, the (racial) other is inhuman or subhuman. This justifies enslavement, atrocities, and even annihilation as strategies of the civilizing mission. At the other end, conquest, occupation, and forceful conversion are strategies of spiritual or material development, of progress and integration of the innocent, naïve, undeveloped others into the main body of humanity.

These two definitions and strategies towards otherness act as supports of western subjectivity. The helplessness, passivity, and inferiority of the “undeveloped” others turns them into our narcissistic mirror-image and potential double. These unfortunates are the infants of humanity. They are victimized and sacrificed by their own radical evildoers; they are rescued by the West who helps them grow, develop and become our likeness. Because the victim is our mirror image, we know what his interest is and impose it “for his own good.” At the other end, the irrational, cruel, victimizing others are projections of the Other of our unconscious. As Slavoj Žižek puts it, “there is a kind of passive exposure to an overwhelming Otherness, which is the very basis of being human … [the inhuman] is marked by a terrifying excess which, although it negates what we understand as ‘humanity’ is inherent to being human.” 7 Slavoj Žižek, “Against Human Rights 56,” New Left Review (July–August 2005), 34.  We have called this abysmal other lurking in the psyche and unsettling the ego various names: God or Satan, barbarian or foreigner, in psychoanalysis the death drive or the Real. Today they have become the “axis of evil,” the “rogue state,” the “bogus refugee,” or the “illegal” migrant. They are contemporary heirs to Sepulveda’s “monkeys,” epochal representatives of inhumanity.

A comparison of the cognitive strategies associated with the Latinate humanitas and the Greek anthropos is instructive. The humanity of humanism (and of the academic Humanities) 8 Costas Douzinas, “For a Humanities of Resistance,” Critical Legal Thinking, December 7, 2010, https://www.criticallegalthinking.com/2010/12/07/for-a-humanities-of-resistance/ unites knowing subject and known object following the protocols of self-reflection. The anthropos of physical and social anthropology, on the other hand, is the object only of cognition. Physical anthropology examines bodies, senses, and emotions, the material supports of life. Social anthropology studies diverse non-western peoples, societies, and cultures, but not the human species in its essence or totality. These peoples emerged out of and became the object of observation and study through discovery, conquest, and colonization in the new world, Africa, Asia, or in the peripheries of Europe. As Nishitani Osamu puts it, humanity and anthropos signify two asymmetrical regimes of knowledge. Humanity is civilization, anthropos is outside or before civilization. In our globalized world, the minor literatures of anthropos are examined by comparative literature, which compares “civilization” with lesser cultures.

The gradual decline of Western dominance is changing these hierarchies. Similarly, the disquiet with a normative universalism, based on a false conception of humanity, indicates the rise of local, concrete, and context-bound normativities.

In conclusion, because ‘humanity’ has no fixed meaning, it cannot act as a source of norms. Its meaning and scope keeps changing according to political and ideological priorities. The continuously changing conceptions of humanity are the best manifestations of the metaphysics of an age. Perhaps the time has come for anthropos to replace the human. Perhaps the rights to come will be anthropic (to coin a term) rather than human, expressing and promoting singularities and differences instead of the sameness and equivalences of hitherto dominant identities.

Cos­tas Douz­i­nas is Pro­fessor of Law and Dir­ector of the Birk­beck Insti­tute for the Human­it­ies, Uni­ver­sity of London.

  • 1 Hannah Arendt, On Revolution (New York: Viking Press, 1965), 107.
  • 2 B.L. Ullman, “What are the Humanities?” Journal of Higher Education 17/6 (1946), at 302.
  • 3 H.C. Baldry, The Unity of Mankind in Greek Thought , (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1965), 201.
  • 4 Ginés de Sepulveda, Democrates Segundo of De las Justas Causa de la Guerra contra los Indios (Madrid: Institute Fransisco de Vitoria, 1951), 33 quoted in Tzvetan Todorov, The Conquest of America trans. Richard Howard (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999), 153.
  • 5 Bartholomé de las Casas, Obras Completas , Vol. 7 (Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 1922), 536–7.
  • 6 Todorov, The Conquest of America 166, 168.
  • 7 Slavoj Žižek, “Against Human Rights 56,” New Left Review (July–August 2005), 34.
  • 8 Costas Douzinas, “For a Humanities of Resistance,” Critical Legal Thinking, December 7, 2010, https://www.criticallegalthinking.com/2010/12/07/for-a-humanities-of-resistance/

12 Comments

Good morning Costas! Does the problem lie, as you write, with “the idea of humanity”? Or does it instead lie with isolating and examining the history of ANY social or ethical concept in this step-by-step way? Is there any meaningful normative concept for which we can NOT perform the same kind of history, only to find that it, too, rests on millennia of manipulation, hierarchy and oppression? Suppose I do the same kind of geneology of the concept of “liberation”, or “tolerance”, or “cosmopolitanism”, or “open-mindedness”, or “love”, or “altruism”, or “empathy”, or “non-discrimination”, or “receptiveness”, or indeed even “revolution”. Won’t I obviously get the same kind of result? Does the history of a concept equate with some a priori meaning and necessary destiny? Are we no longer active agents over the concepts we use? Are we no longer able to intervene in history? Perhaps the concept of “human rights” collapses because ANY axiomatised ethical system collapses. Any ethics is always manipulable. Can we, or rather should we try, to imagine some “purer” one that isn’t? Isn’t “purity” the most manipulable notion of all? After Wittgenstein and Heidegger, can any analysis of such a deeply political concept as “humanity” really be plucked out and placed under a historical microscope in such a straightforward way? Is the problem, then, that any isolation of such a concept will inevitably deliver the same result, namely, a necessarily contingent history, which is then presented as a priori and unalterable? Doesn’t this style of analysis fall into the binarist trap it seeks to overcome, namely, of opposing a faulty concept to some un-stated assumption of an impeccable one, a “pure” one? I might even stray so far as to argue that injustice is not, as this analysis suggests, the opposite of justice, but rather its constant product. Hugs from Eric.

PS: As to the conclusion, “Per­haps the rights to come will be anthropic (to coin a term) rather than human, express­ing and pro­mot­ing sin­gu­lar­it­ies and dif­fer­ences instead of the same­ness and equi­val­ences of hitherto dom­in­ant identities.” But don’t countless philosophies promise to “express­ and pro­mot­e sin­gu­lar­it­ies and dif­fer­ences instead of the same­ness and equi­val­ences.” (Some might call it the stock formula of run-of-the-mill liberalism!) How, then, will the “anthropic” avoid the fate of the “human” as narrated here? E

A small historical aside; in a legend recorded in Mesopotamian literature, the Akkadian king Naram Sin is engaged in a battle with the ‘Umman Manda’, incredibly powerful creatures of distinct physiognomy. Wondering if they are humans, he orders one of his officials to try and hit them to see if they bleed and are humans. Indeed, one of the proposed etymologies for their name is ‘humans? maybe’. I guess this shows how ancient is our preoccupation with ‘humanity’ and ‘human nature.’

IT IS DIFFERENT FROM OTHER , ACCORDING TO HUMAN NATURE IT FULFILL ALL THINGS

And what of the ancient Greek word ἄνθρωπος?

“Human­ity is civil­iz­a­tion, anthro­pos is out­side or before civil­iz­a­tion.”

I don’t think that is how the Greeks used ἄνθρωπος at all. And what about the Greek concept of ‘mortals’ (βροτῶν), which includes men both inside and outside civilization. See Book 6 of the Odyssey (for example): ὤ μοι ἐγώ, τέων αὖτε βροτῶν ἐς γαῖαν ἱκάνω; ἦ ῥ᾽ οἵ γ᾽ ὑβρισταί τε καὶ ἄγριοι οὐδὲ δίκαιοι, ἦε φιλόξεινοι καί σφιν νόος ἐστὶ θεουδής;

Plato uses ἄνθρωπος a lot, but he certainly does NOT use it to mean ‘outside or before civilization’.

Can you give examples of where the Greeks used the word this way?

Dingus: Brilliant, and probative, point about Plato. I would argue that Plato has no real concept of “civilisation” at all, and certainly not in the way Aristotle does, or in the way early European modernity would later develop. Aristotle tells what we would today call an “Enlightenment narrative”, clearly referring to “primitive” and “advanced” stages of human society (with Greeks at the summit), and he repeats that point constantly. Plato, by contrast, tends to narrate history far more sceptically (or, as in Τίμαιος, cyclically).

Plato certainly (perhaps self-parodically) constructs notions of superior and inferior humans (infamously in Πολιτεία), but mostly in his oddly meritocratic scheme. He discusses differences between Greeks and non-Greeks, but never in Aristotle’s stringent, emphatic terms, nor does he really share Aristotle’s categorical notions of natural slaves. (Nor of women’s inferiority. After all, a woman can in theory become a philosopher ruler.)

And remember the “mere slave” who performs an extended dialectical operation in Μένων), of the type Plato thought appropriate only to philosophers. Curiously, then, Plato (even if he does pointedly ask whether that slave “speaks Greek”) does not so rigidly construct notions of humanity or civilisation in ethnic terms.

Thanks very much for your observation. Eric

I was thinking about the slave in Meno the other day. It’s a really remarkable and beautiful passage. I don’t think I understand the dialogue – or how that scene in particular fits into the whole corpus – but it would be a rich topic of research re: natural equality. It’s always unclear what Plato is actually saying and how much is ironic or eristic.

Really, the concept “Greek” is not really clear in a lot of ancient sources. It’s definitely non-existent in Homer. When Odysseus shows up somewhere, he doesn’t wonder ‘are they Greeks or not?’, he wonders if they are good to strangers and respect the gods (that is, civilization is defined ethically, not ethnically).

Hello again. I think there’s no doubt that Plato has a strong notion of dialectic as non-eristic (although we could certainly doubt its plausibility!), as emerges, for example, in the contrast with speech-making in Πρωταγόρας. Arguably the criticism of Plato in those “pure” dialectical passages is not against its dialectical artifice per se, but against its dialogical artifice — Socrates makes every point, and the interlocutor mostly just agrees (although I think that pattern does become a bit more complex in some passages in the other dialogues). So many have argued that Plato lacks any real notion of a participatory dialectic, i.e., that his dialectic is really just a monologue. That criticism will later come back to haunt figures as different as Aquinas, Hegel, and, I think, at least some of Marx.

Part of the significance of the slave in Μένων might have to do with Plato’s constant sarcasm about Athenian democracy, and its “free” citizens, having sacrificed any interest in truth-seeking (and therefore in justice), by throwing it open to a “mob” who, within that populist and market-driven context, merely end up seeking individual gain, and end up, so to speak, “lost to truth”, and “lost” to its primary tool, i.e., dialectic.

The character Socrates certainly has a strong notion of dia­lectic as non-​eristic in some dialogues, but I’m hesitant to say what Plato’s position was. The way the dialogues are written seems to undermine the seemingly protreptic nature of the speeches. What do you make of the Euthydemus? Or the horribly unreliable narrator of the Symposium? It’s very unclear to me what Plato was doing.

In any case, the original blog post overstates its case against the Greeks and doesn’t provide evidence for its strong claims. I think it’s clear from Homer (to give one example) that there was an ancient conception of humanity that was not connected to ethnicity or ‘cultural superiority’. The split was between mortals and gods or man and beast. Even the Phaeacians, who are totally cut off from other people and compared to the Cyclops and Giants, are considered part of humanity.

Another (related) question is: how “Platonic” or “Aristotelian” was ancient Athens? How accepted were their ideas? There probably isn’t enough evidence to say.

What I do think is clear is that the ancient world – indeed, even Aristotle himself – was not “Aristotelian” in the same way as his Medieval followers (either Christian or Islamic).

G’morning again. Many 5th century Athenians certainly become chauvinist after the Persian wars. But with important dissenters. Plato, and probably Socrates, pokes fun at Athenian supremicism. They ironise it and parody it. And Plato, like Thucydides, certainly warns against its dangers, even seeing in it a crucial cause of Athens’s demise. Plato’s refusal to qualify Athenians, or even Greeks, as superior, in the categorical way that Aristotle does, is certainly no oversight.

(PS — I certainly agree that Plato and Aristotle do not play the role in Athens that they would later play in the Middle Ages, either in influence or in substance. The staunch democratic faction of Anytus and Meletus would have fallen dumbstruck reading Augustine and Aquinas!).

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Notify me of new posts by email.

Submit Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

  • Facebook 14k Followers
  • Twitter 5k Followers

POSTS BY EMAIL

Email Address

We respect your privacy .

thesis statement of human rights

FAIR ACCESS* PUBLISHER IN LAW AND THE HUMANITIES

thesis statement of human rights

*fair access = access according to ability to pay on a sliding scale down to zero.

thesis statement of human rights

JUST PUBLISHED

PUBLISH ON CLT

Publish your article with us and get read by the largest community of critical legal scholars, with over 4500 subscribers.

thesis statement of human rights

Dissertation

Research Paper

  • Testimonials

Research Papers

Dissertations

Term Papers

thesis statement of human rights

Human Right Thesis- Write With Expertise

Human Right Thesis

Human right, in simple, means the inalienable rights of freedom, justice and equality any human being is entitled with. It is one of the most sensitive areas of study a student may have to confront with. Human right thesis involves taking a clear stand on the issue concerning human rights. The various issues relevant for the study of human rights are implementations, violations, government laws, international laws, declarations of human rights etc. Thus it requires an in depth knowledge of these issues to write a strong thesis paper in human rights. ProfEssays.com offers assistance to students to write any custom essays , custom research paper or thesis on any thesis topic including human right thesis .

An expert help can certainly help you throw light on various issues as aforementioned. The writers at ProfEssays.com are well knowledgeable in the field of human rights and can tackle the issues in educative fashion. They will ensure that the content of your human right thesis are strong to convince your point to the readers. Also, they are well acquainted with various writing style- APA style , MLA style , Chicago style, etc. that need to be adhered while writing.

Following tips can be helpful for your human right thesis .

  • Well defined problem- clearly defines which area or issue of human rights you are focusing. Take a clear point, like the thesis topic, ‘prejudices faced by the women in Asia’ clearly defines the problem you are addressing.
  • In-depth review of literature- human rights is a broad topic and multidisciplinary- it touches psychology, politics, sociology, etc. thus you should make sure you understands the various factors relevant to your issue.
  • Well founded conclusions and deductions- for every contention and conclusion you draw, you should present supportive of facts & evidences. If you are saying ‘the women in Asia are deprived of basic right to education’, you should also give a detail or figures to support it.
  • Sensitivity- since human right thesis requires you to be very sensitive; you should make sure that your paper does not offend the feelings and emotions of any gender, race, ethnicity, nationality and so on.
  • Originality & ingenuity- last, but not the least, be original and ensure creativity in your paper. Even though you take certain ideas from other, make certain that they are borrowed merely to support ideas and the arguments presented by you.

If you carefully follow these guidelines certainly it will add value to your thesis. For an excellent human right thesis, however, you can give an order to ProfEssays.com . Our writers will take the writing job with total sincerity and dedication. They will give a personal touch to the paper to ensure originality. Plagiarism is a strong ‘no’ to our writers. You can even give us the job of writing college thesis, or graduate thesis in any thesis topic. We ensure 100 % confidentiality to your paper and your details. And all these come at a very affordable rate.

Looking for an exceptional company to do some custom writing for you? Look no further than ProfEssays.com! You simply place an order with the writing instructions you have been given, and before you know it, your essay or term paper, completely finished and unique, will be completed and sent back to you. At ProfEssays.com, we have over 500 highly educated, professional writers standing by waiting to help you with any writing needs you may have! We understand students have plenty on their plates, which is why we love to help them out. Let us do the work for you, so you have time to do what you want to do!

  • Customers' Testimonials
  • Custom Book Report
  • Help with Case Studies
  • Personal Essays
  • Custom Movie Review
  • Narrative Essays
  • Argumentative Essays
  • Homework Help
  • Essay Format
  • Essay Outline
  • Essay Topics
  • Essay Questions
  • How to Write a Research Paper
  • Research Paper Format
  • Research Paper Introduction
  • Research Paper Outline
  • Research Paper Abstract
  • Research Paper Topics

thesis statement of human rights

Client Lounge

Deadline approaching.

UN logo

Search the United Nations

  • Member States

Main Bodies

  • Secretary-General
  • Secretariat
  • Emblem and Flag
  • ICJ Statute
  • Nobel Peace Prize
  • Peace and Security
  • Human Rights
  • Humanitarian Aid
  • Sustainable Development and Climate
  • International Law
  • Global Issues
  • Official Languages
  • Observances
  • Events and News
  • Get Involved
  • Israel-Gaza Crisis
  • Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 ( General Assembly resolution 217 A ) as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. It sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected and it has been translated into over 500 languages . The UDHR is widely recognized as having inspired, and paved the way for, the adoption of more than seventy human rights treaties, applied today on a permanent basis at global and regional levels (all containing references to it in their preambles). 

Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,

Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,

Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,

Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,

Now, therefore,

The General Assembly,

Proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction. 

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

  • Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
  • No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

  • Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
  • Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.
  • Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
  • This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
  • Everyone has the right to a nationality.
  • No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.
  • Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
  • Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
  • The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.
  • Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
  • No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

  • Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
  • No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
  • Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
  • Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.
  • The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

  • Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
  • Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
  • Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
  • Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

  • Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
  • Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
  • Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
  • Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
  • Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
  • Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
  • Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

  • Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.
  • In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
  • These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)

  • Text of the Declaration
  • History of the Declaration
  • Drafters of the Declaration
  • The Foundation of International Human Rights Law
  • Human Rights Law

2023: UDHR turns 75

What is the Declaration of Human Rights? Narrated by Morgan Freeman.

UN digital ambassador Elyx animates the UDHR

cards with stick figure illustrating human rights

To mark the 75th anniversary of the UDHR in December 2023, the United Nations has partnered once again with French digital artist YAK (Yacine Ait Kaci) – whose illustrated character Elyx is the first digital ambassador of the United Nations – on an animated version of the 30 Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

UDHR Illustrated

Cover of the illustrated version of the UDHR.

Read the Illustrated edition of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

UDHR in 80+ languages

nine people in rows of 3 facing camera

Watch and listen to people around the world reading articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in more than 80 languages.

Women Who Shaped the Declaration

Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, seated at right speaking with Mrs. Hansa Mehta who stands next to her.

Women delegates from various countries played a key role in getting women’s rights included in the Declaration. Hansa Mehta of India (standing above Eleanor Roosevelt) is widely credited with changing the phrase "All men are born free and equal" to "All human beings are born free and equal" in Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

  • General Assembly
  • Security Council
  • Economic and Social Council
  • Trusteeship Council
  • International Court of Justice

Departments / Offices

  • UN System Directory
  • UN System Chart
  • Global Leadership
  • UN Information Centres

Resources / Services

  • Emergency information
  • Reporting Wrongdoing
  • Guidelines for gender-inclusive language
  • UN iLibrary
  • UN Chronicle
  • UN Yearbook
  • Publications for sale
  • Media Accreditation
  • NGO accreditation at ECOSOC
  • NGO accreditation at DGC
  • Visitors’ services
  • Procurement
  • Internships
  • Academic Impact
  • UN Archives
  • UN Audiovisual Library
  • How to donate to the UN system
  • Information on COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
  • Africa Renewal
  • Ten ways the UN makes a difference
  • High-level summits 2023

Key Documents

  • Convention on the Rights of the Child
  • Statute of the International Court of Justice
  • Annual Report of the Secretary-General on the Work of the Organization

News and Media

  • Press Releases
  • Spokesperson
  • Social Media
  • The Essential UN
  • Awake at Night podcast

Issues / Campaigns

  • Sustainable Development Goals
  • Our Common Agenda
  • Summit of the Future
  • Climate Action
  • UN and Sustainability
  • Action for Peacekeeping (A4P)
  • Global Ceasefire
  • Global Crisis Response Group
  • Call to Action for Human Rights
  • Disability Inclusion Strategy
  • Fight Racism
  • Hate Speech
  • Safety of Journalists
  • Rule of Law
  • Action to Counter Terrorism
  • Victims of Terrorism
  • Children and Armed Conflict
  • Violence Against Children (SRSG)
  • Sexual Violence in Conflict
  • Refugees and Migrants
  • Action Agenda on Internal Displacement
  • Spotlight Initiative
  • Preventing Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
  • Prevention of Genocide and the Responsibility to Protect
  • The Rwanda Genocide
  • The Holocaust
  • The Question of Palestine
  • The Transatlantic Slave Trade
  • Decolonization
  • Messengers of Peace
  • Roadmap for Digital Cooperation
  • Digital Financing Task Force
  • Data Strategy
  • Countering Disinformation
  • UN75: 2020 and Beyond
  • Women Rise for All
  • Stop the Red Sea Catastrophe
  • Black Sea Grain Initiative Joint Coordination Centre
  • Türkiye-Syria Earthquake Response (Donate)
  • How It Works
  • PhD thesis writing
  • Master thesis writing
  • Bachelor thesis writing
  • Dissertation writing service
  • Dissertation abstract writing
  • Thesis proposal writing
  • Thesis editing service
  • Thesis proofreading service
  • Thesis formatting service
  • Coursework writing service
  • Research paper writing service
  • Architecture thesis writing
  • Computer science thesis writing
  • Engineering thesis writing
  • History thesis writing
  • MBA thesis writing
  • Nursing dissertation writing
  • Psychology dissertation writing
  • Sociology thesis writing
  • Statistics dissertation writing
  • Buy dissertation online
  • Write my dissertation
  • Cheap thesis
  • Cheap dissertation
  • Custom dissertation
  • Dissertation help
  • Pay for thesis
  • Pay for dissertation
  • Senior thesis
  • Write my thesis

177 Human Rights Research Topics: Bright Ideas List 2023

177 Human Rights Research Topics

Do you have a college research project or thesis on human rights and have been wondering how to prepare a good paper? You need a number of things, such as good research, analytical, and writing skills. However, the first step is getting the right topic. This is very challenging for most students, but we are here to help. This post provides a 177 human rights topics list that you can count on for the best grade. We will also tell you how to craft a great university human rights dissertation.

A Brief about Human Rights

Human rights are the basic freedoms and rights that belong to all persons in the globe, starting from birth to death. These rights apply irrespective of where you are, personal beliefs, or the way you decide to live your life. They cannot be taken away but can be restricted in some cases, such as if you break the law.

The basic rights are anchored on shared values, such as dignity, fairness, equality, independence, and respect. They are all protected by law. Because of their wide applications in areas such as the justice system and employment-related topics, you can expect to get many related school assignments and projects on it.

How to Write a Good Human Rights Thesis or Dissertation

Before we can look at the best human rights thesis topics, let’s look at the best process of writing it. This can be divided into six main steps:

  • Identify the study topic in line with your class teacher/professor’s recommendations. You can use our list of basic human rights topics that comes shortly after this guide.
  • Research the topic well to ensure it has ample resources. Then, identify the main points that will be covered during the study. It will be good to think about the entire dissertation right from the start because all parts are interconnected.
  • Develop a thesis statement. This is very important because it will be tested after analyzing the results.
  • Develop a good structure for the thesis. This is the outline that will guide you on what to include at what point. Carefully look at the current recommendation from your school. One of the best outlines you might want to consider include:
Introduction Literature review Methodology Results Analysis and discussion Conclusion Bibliography
  • Prepare the first draft.
  • Write the final draft by redefining the first draft. At this point, it will be a good idea to consider editing services from experts.

Next, we will highlight the main topics that you should consider in human rights. However, we’d like to remind that you can only pay for thesis and not waste your time over a tone of assignments.

Top Human Rights Research Topics

  • How does social discrimination impact people living with HIV/AIDS?
  • Same-sex marriage: Why is it more social compared to religious significance?
  • A review of international reaction to sweatshops in Asian countries.
  • A closer look at the flaws of morals for kids raised in the US compared to those brought up in Japan.
  • A comprehensive review of the employment problem arising from the surge of the immigrant population.
  • Human rights violations in a country of choice: How has it impacted its image?
  • War against terrorism: How is it impacting human rights?
  • Should prisoners retain their voting rights?
  • Should the US cut trade ties with countries that grossly violate human rights?
  • Universal human rights: Are they achievable in the modern world?
  • Is there a point where human rights can be justified in the interest of national security?
  • Use of cameras in public places: Do they violate human rights?
  • Non-governmental organizations’ operations: Are they strong enough to help protect human rights?
  • Promotion of human rights: Should it be the first priority for every government?
  • Capitalistic systems: Do they defend or violate human rights?
  • Comparing the policies for human rights protection of the United States and India.
  • A review of human rights violations during the 2021 US army withdrawal from Afghanistan.
  • Should the US be held accountable for the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945?
  • Human rights in the US and Latin America: A comparison.
  • Compare two historical human rights portraits in the 20 th century.

Argumentative Human Rights Topics

  • Is violation of human rights allowed during times of war?
  • Circumcision of infants: Does it violate their human rights?
  • Should women and men have varying rights?
  • What is the link between human rights and traditions?
  • Capital punishment: Should it be considered a violation of human rights?
  • Right for freedom to education: Should it be made available for all?
  • Social media networking services: Should they guarantee privacy for all the clients.
  • Is the US policy on immigration discriminatory?
  • Interest of states: Should it take precedence over an individual’s human rights?
  • Developed countries have a duty to promote human rights in the developing states.
  • Pet ownership should be considered a universal human right.
  • Childhood concept differs from one culture to another: Should the notion of child labor also vary?
  • What are inappropriate ways of fighting for human rights?
  • Development of a country: Does it depend on the country’s defense of human rights?
  • From a human rights perspective, which is the most important amendment to the US constitution?
  • Comparing Apartheid and Holocaust: Has justice been done for the victims.
  • Human rights in the 21 st century: Is the globe doing enough to address the crisis in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia and Afghanistan?
  • What are the most important lessons on human rights from World War II?
  • Human rights violations in West Bank: Has the globe done enough?

International Human Rights Topics

  • What does the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines tell us about human rights internationally?
  • A review of cases of human rights in the United States between the 1950 and 2000.
  • Analyze the impacts of discrimination based on color and race.
  • A thematic review of modern human rights movements.
  • Trace the evolution of human rights starting from the ancient times to the age of globalization.
  • What is the relationship between human rights and peace in a country? A case study of the Netherlands.
  • Disability in the UK is under attack: Discuss.
  • Who should people running away from human rights violations turn to?
  • Is it appropriate to deny human rights on the basis of religion and gender?
  • Violation of human rights in North Korea: How is the developed world preparing to tackle it?
  • Violation of human rights in Venezuela: Should the United States get involved?
  • The right to stay silent in a court of law: How is this likely to affect the accused person?
  • What are the best remedies for addressing violations of women’s rights in the Middle East?
  • Will the world ever get to a point where people will live without worrying about human rights violations?
  • What makes it so difficult to introduce gun control in the United States?
  • Who should be held responsible for cases of mass shootings in schools?

Controversial Human Rights Topics

  • What are the similarities and differences between human and civil rights?
  • Evaluate the violation of human rights in Syria in the 21 st century.
  • Police-related human rights violation: How can we prevent it?
  • Should prisoners have a right to vote?
  • Assisted euthanasia is a violation of human rights: Discuss.
  • Should persons who try to take their own lives be charged in a court of law?
  • What is the best way to punish states for violating human rights?
  • Countries arming themselves with nuclear weapons are readying to violate human rights.
  • How effective are laws on domestic violence in the UK?
  • All cases of human abuses in history should be tried and concluded.
  • Is the UN doing enough to protect human rights?
  • Holocaust: Is it possible for the world to heal completely?
  • Do you think that the Rwanda Genocide could have been avoided?
  • It is time to act: How do you think the global community should handle the problem of immigrants trying to cross from Africa into Europe?
  • The hidden danger of not addressing bullying in school.
  • Is disciplining a child a violation of human rights?
  • Are correctional facilities doing enough to correct the behavior of inmates?
  • Is imprisonment enough to punish murder criminals?
  • Making a case for life imprisonment and the death penalty for murder criminals.
  • Is abortion a violation of human rights?

Human Rights Discussion Topics

  • What is your view on the famous revolt of the Cockroach People?
  • Discuss the outcomes of the LGBT movements in the 20 th century.
  • A deeper look into civil rights movements from Malcolm X point of view.
  • Interaction between Japan and China during WWII: How did it impact human rights issues in the two states?
  • Discuss the biggest human rights violations in South Africa after Apartheid.
  • UN Refugee program: How does it help enhance refugees’ welfare across the globe?
  • French Revolution and human rights: A thematic review.
  • Human rights in medieval Europe.
  • Human Rights Act in New Zealand in 1993: What is its significance?
  • Which human rights did women across the globe find hard to access in the 20 th century?
  • Police brutality in Brazil: Are the efforts taken by the government enough?
  • Discuss transgender rights in Europe.
  • A review of transgender human rights issues in the United States.
  • Disability rights in the UK.
  • Comparing disability policies in the US and India.
  • Racial profiling by police.
  • What are the roots of racism in the United States?
  • Review the Trail of Broken Treaties.
  • A deeper look at the Chattel Slavery in the Colonial America.
  • Review the African-American male experience.
  • Reviewing the history of the Bill of Rights in the United States.
  • Analyzing the American Indian Movement: How does it compare with other human rights movements?
  • Human rights in modern cinema: How are whites and people of color-treated?

Interesting Civil Rights Topics

  • Black Power Movement: How did it impact the Black Lives Matter in 2020 and 2021?
  • Are the 20 th Century civil rights movements sustainable?
  • Comparing women rights movements in 2020 and the 20 th century.
  • How did Martin Luther influence the civil rights approaches that came after him?
  • Comparing the scientific Revolution, Reformation and Renaissance movements’ impacts on western thought.
  • Protestant Reformation: Discuss how Catholic Church’s corruption and crusaders of war contributed towards its formation.
  • A closer look at the human rights movements during the Industrial Revolution of between 1760 and 1840.
  • How did the teachings of the American Revolution help the secession movement and Civil War?
  • How did Teddy Roosevelt impact the progressive movement?
  • The impact of communism impacts world history.
  • The location of a civil movement is the most important thing in its success: Discuss.
  • What made people start nationalist movement in Prussia?
  • Discuss the results of anti-nationalist movements in New York.
  • Female and Islam oppression on the globe.
  • Reinventing a revolution: A closer look at the Zapatista Movement.
  • What is the link between music, protest, and justice?
  • Confederate Flag: Is it a symbol of oppression?
  • Review the voting rights of 1965.
  • The West Memphis Three.

Special Human Rights Debate Topics

  • Women rights in the first half and second half 20 th century.
  • Legalization of same sex marriage and its impact on global fights for human rights.
  • Human rights movements in the US and their impact on federal policies.
  • International human rights movements: How has it influenced the UK judicial policies?
  • Responsibility to protect: How is it related to the issue of human rights?
  • Suffrage rights in ancient Greek: A holistic review.
  • Human rights presentation in the philosophy of enlightenment.
  • Human rights violations during the First World War.
  • What are lessons did we learn from Hitler and Holocaust during WWII.
  • These five reasons are the main causes of human rights violations in the 21 st century.
  • The main causes of gender disparity in the US.
  • Comparing the state of human rights in the UK and Qatar.
  • Do you think the bible violates human rights?
  • Environmental racism: What are the main effects?
  • The importance of the judiciary in protecting human rights.
  • Women rights in the Roman Empire.
  • Segregation is a violation of human rights.
  • Discussing critical human rights issues in India.

Unique Human Rights Topics for Research

  • The collapse of the Soviet Union and Rise of Communism in Russia.
  • Comparing the Pan-African movement to the 20 th -century cultural nationalism of Latin America.
  • A review of the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement’s goals and methods.
  • Abolition of death penalty: Why it is a major human rights issue.
  • Popularity of social media and its impact on human rights. A closer review of Arab countries in North Africa.
  • International Calvinism: What was the impact on European Culture?
  • Why do other countries not intervene in North Korea where massive abuses of human rights have been reported?
  • A statistical review of human trafficking in the 20 th century.
  • How can a person as an individual help to promote human rights?
  • Utilitarianism contravenes human rights.
  • Human rights institutions and their efforts in protecting human rights in Africa.
  • Military actions to protect human rights: Does it make sense?
  • Black Lives Matter Movement protests: What does the movement say about human rights today?
  • Does the UK constitution comprehensively cover the issue of human rights?
  • Global manufacturing: How has it impacted the rights of workers?
  • Has the International Labor Organization done enough to protect the plight of workers on the globe?
  • How does poverty impact human rights in developing countries?

PhD Topics in Human Rights

  • A review of the parts of the globe with the worst cases of human rights violation.
  • How does the internet promote human trafficking? A thematic review.
  • A comprehensive review of factors that impact the outcome of different trials in a court of law.
  • Legitimate forms of the death penalty.
  • What factors prevent people from getting justice? A literature review.
  • A comprehensive review of the impacts of legalizing drug use.
  • What factors prevent equal representation of women in top leadership roles in the developing world?
  • What are the major problems faced by LGBT couples? Propose possible solutions.
  • Racial profiling by police: A case study of Mexico.
  • A comparative review of human rights policies of three countries of your choice in Europe.

Other Human Rights Research Paper Topics

  • LGBT relationships: Why are they disallowed in some countries?
  • Comparing the rights of pets to human rights?
  • A review of human rights violations during quarantines caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • A review of the fundamental principle of the EU Commission of Human Rights.
  • Human rights violations in Taiwan.
  • What is the link between ecological problems and human rights problems?
  • Evaluate the most frequently violated human right in your workplace.
  • What is the UK policy on refugees?
  • A closer review of transgender rights in Europe.
  • Discuss physical abuses in marriage in the UK.
  • Evaluate the amendment of laws in France to suit LGBT relationships.
  • Prisoners of war: Do they deserve human rights protection?
  • Discuss the strategies used by the two countries with the best human rights records.
  • Comparing the human rights institutions in Africa to those in Asia.
  • Violation of human rights in Crimea in 2014: Were the remedies enough?

Need Assistance in Writing Your Research Papers on Human Rights?

One thing we must indicate is that writing a dissertation is never easy. It is the last and biggest academic project before graduating. Therefore, it is very important to get it right. The best way to achieve this is by seeking the help of a dissertation writing service.

Our professionals are the most efficient among the best dissertation writing services . We work with skilled writers that you can count on for excellent work. The experts are educated in top universities and have a lot of experience preparing A-rated work. The writers are trustworthy online professionals and will only deliver 100% unique custom papers. Even if your dissertation has a very tight deadline, our writers are quick and will complete it on time. Our services are also affordable, and all that you need to do is ask us to “help with my thesis.”

music topics

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comment * Error message

Name * Error message

Email * Error message

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

As Putin continues killing civilians, bombing kindergartens, and threatening WWIII, Ukraine fights for the world's peaceful future.

Ukraine Live Updates

UN Women Strategic Plan 2022-2025

Statement: Reproductive rights are women’s rights and human rights

  • Share to Facebook
  • Share to Twitter
  • Share to LinkedIn
  • Share to E-mail

Reproductive rights are integral to women’s rights, a fact that is upheld by international agreements and reflected in law in different parts of the world.

To be able to exercise their human rights and make essential decisions, women need to be able to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to information, education, and services.

When safe and legal access to abortion is restricted, women are forced to resort to less-safe methods, too often with damaging or disastrous results—especially for women who are affected by poverty or marginalization, including minority women.

The ability of women to control what happens to their own bodies is also associated with the roles women are able to play in society, whether as a member of the family, the workforce, or government.

UN Women remains steadfast in our determination to ensure that the rights of women and girls are fully observed and enjoyed worldwide, and we look forward to continued evidence-based engagement with our partners everywhere in support of rapid progress towards universal enjoyment of universal rights.

  • Sexual and reproductive health and rights
  • Women’s rights
  • Human rights

Related content

More than one million Palestinian women and girls in Gaza are facing catastrophic hunger, with almost no access to food, safe drinking water, functioning toilets or running water, creating life-threatening risks.

Six months into the war on Gaza, over 10,000 women have been killed, among them an estimated 6,000 mothers, leaving 19,000 children orphaned

UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous delivers closing remarks to the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, UN headquarters, 27 March 2024. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown.

Speech: Gender equality – just, prudent, and essential for everything we all aspire to

UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous delivers opening remarks at the CSW68 side event, “Multistakeholder partnership and practices to push forward for gender equality, human rights and democracy”, UN headquarters, 20 March 2024. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown.

Speech: We are not deterred – Let us push forward together for gender equality

Law - LLM in Human Rights Law: Dissertations & Theses

  • Finding Law Reports
  • Legislation
  • Reference Sources
  • Dissertations & Theses
  • Open Access

Reputable Links

  • Research Support
  • Search Techniques
  • Referencing and Citation
  • Plagiarism and Copyright
  • Research Management Tools
  • COVID-19 Law Library Information Page
  • Subject Specific

Need help from the UJ Law Library?  

Click on this link:

UJ Law Library Help

undefined

Reputable Internet links to dissertations and theses in SA Universities’ Institutional Repositories as well as Open Access Repositories in SA and internationally can be found on the  Reputable Links tab

On this page, you will find:

Guidelines for submitting dissertations and theses at UJ.

Links to various national and international platforms where dissertations and theses can be found.

A link to our Reputable Links page.

Guidelines for submitting e-Theses & Dissertations at UJ

  • ETD Submission Guidelines
  • ETD Submission Form

UJ Theses and Dissertations

UJ IR is the University of Johannesburg's Open Access Institutional Repository. The IR collects and maintains intellectual scholarship such as published journal articles (post-print), conference papers and proceedings, data sets, reports, theses and dissertations in a free and open environment.

Electronic Theses & Dissertations completed at UJ can be searched by clicking on the arrow next to "Browse" and then selecting "Communities & Collections".  Theses/Dissertations can also be browsed by Title, Creator (Author), Subject and Contributor (Supervisor).

  • UJ IR (Institutional Repository)
  • UJ IR (Institutional Repository - Law community)
  • UJLink (UJ Library Catalogue)

SA Theses and Dissertations Databases

International theses & dissertations databases.

Info icon | Myiconfinder

Ebsco Open Dissertations

  • << Previous: Journals
  • Next: Newspapers >>
  • Last Updated: Apr 3, 2024 2:59 PM
  • URL: https://uj.ac.za.libguides.com/llmhumanrights

Human Rights Violation Essay Sample, with Outline

Published by gudwriter on January 4, 2021 January 4, 2021

Human Rights Violation Essay Outline

Introduction, elevate your writing with our free writing tools.

Did you know that we provide a free essay and speech generator, plagiarism checker, summarizer, paraphraser, and other writing tools for free?

Thesis: The enforcement and upholding human rights goes a long way in promoting justice, tolerance, mutual respect, and human dignity.

The law punishes heavily those people who violate human rights. Essays on violation of human rights can be tough to most students with the help of credible essay writing service like Gudwriter you get MBA essay writing for students who are struggling to complete their assignments or essays.

Paragraph 1:

There is a general agreement that fundamental human rights and freedoms should be accorded to people no matter the situation or circumstance.

  • These rights include but not limited to civil liberties, political rights and most important the right to life.
  • A violation of human rights denies individuals their basic moral entitlements.
  • Some of the universal human rights abuses and those termed as crimes against humanity include, ‘genocide, torture, slavery, rape, enforced sterilization, medical experimentation, and deliberate starvation’.

Paragraph 2:

In times of warfare, there is often a widespread violation of human, political, and fundamental rights.

  • In such situations, the worst violation of human rights and specifically the right to life include massacres, starvation of people, and genocide.
  • The murder of individuals and causing them bodily harm, prevention of birth, or forcibly transferring children is a violation of human rights.

Paragraph 3:

Sometimes women face the worst form of human right violation through rape or forced into prostitution.

  • Crimes involving sexual mutilation, humiliation, and forced pregnancy are common.
  • Another case of human violation among women is that of trafficking where they are transported to long distances for prostitution.

Paragraph 4:

The police are also notorious for violating basic human rights.

  • The most common violation of basic human rights by the police is brutality.
  • It is a dangerous human right violation since even though it is considered illegal, it can be carried out under the color of law.

Paragraph 6:

 Protection of Human rights

  • The question that ought to be considered is how these rights should be protected.
  • When it comes to crimes against humanity, there should be a humanitarian intervention.
  • Although it is a highly protested debate, humanitarian intervention will go a long way in ensuring that people are not subjected to inhuman treatment.
  • The international community should also ensure that international standards related to human rights are promoted without having an interest in a nation but for the sake of the suffering citizens.

Understanding one’s rights goes a long way in preventing human rights violations.

  • The citizens of any nation should have adequate knowledge of their rights to ensure that they are not violated.
  • It is often said that knowledge is power which means that when people possess knowledge concerning their rights, they will know when their rights are violated and where to go to seek redress.

Paragraph 7:

Due to globalization governments should revise their laws to fight against human rights violation.

  • In the wake of the 21 st century, there has been an increase in trading activities across borders meaning that non-state actors are more involves in issues related to human rights.
  • Although globalization has enhanced the ability to carry out activities beyond borders, some people have found loopholes where they can violate human rights.
  • Governments should ensure that they close such loopholes by the formation of laws that acknowledge the world as a global village.

  Paragraph 8:

All governments across the world should put in place strict penalties against people that violate human rights.

  • For instance, when it comes to police brutality, the government through its arms should ensure that people who suffer receive justice.
  • A restate of the thesis statement
  • A summary of the main points
  • A take-away  statement  made based on presented facts or information  

Human rights violation essay instructions – ways through which human rights are violated and what can be done to ensure human rights are protected.

Human Rights Violation and Protection

In every society, there are fundamental rights and freedoms put in place. A human right is a moral principle or a norm that describes or sets specific standards of human behavior and protected in a country’s constitution. There is also the concept of natural rights. Defined, natural rights are those rights that are believed all human beings and animals are entitled to as provided by natural law. Society often views these rights to be inalienable, implying it is almost impossible to take them away. Noteworthy, life, liberty, and property are the most important natural rights. When the U.S. was declaring itself independent from the British, “life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness” were mentioned as the natural rights. The Declaration of the Rights of Man too espoused the idea.

Those who supported the idea, including Thomas Jefferson and John Locke, believed that the government has the purpose of protecting the natural rights of people through a social contract. In such a contract, members of a society implicitly agree to pursue social benefits through mutual cooperation. However, different actions and practices often lead to violation of these rights. A violation of human rights is dangerous and illegal in any society since it defeats the purpose the rights were established in the first place. The enforcement and upholding of human rights goes a long way in promoting justice, tolerance, mutual respect, and human dignity.

There is a general agreement that fundamental human rights and freedoms should be accorded to people no matter the situation or circumstance. These rights include but not limited to civil liberties, political rights, and most importantly the right to life. The protection of human rights ensures that individuals are not treated inhumanely or indecently. A violation of human rights denies individuals their basic moral entitlements. That is, violation of these rights means that one is treated in an undeserving manner. Some of the universal human rights abuses and those termed as crimes against humanity, according to Ekpa (2016), include genocide, torture, slavery, rape, enforced sterilization, medical experimentation, and deliberate starvation.

In times of warfare, there is often a widespread violation of human, political, and fundamental rights. In such situations, the worst violation of human rights and specifically the right to life include massacres, starvation of people, and genocide. Defined, genocide refers to the killing of people of a particular race, ethnicity, or religious group en-masse (MacKinnon, 2017). The killing of people and causing them bodily harm, prevention of birth, or forcibly transferring children are all human rights violations. Genocide is considered as one of the most serious violation of human rights.

Sometimes, women face the worst form of human rights violation through rape or forced prostitution. At other times, the international community fails to consider sexual crimes that happen during times of war. However, crimes involving sexual mutilation, humiliation, and forced pregnancy are common (Bunch, 2013). Another case of human violation among women is that of trafficking whereby they are transported to long distances for prostitution. At times, these acts against women are performed intentionally. For instance, in the 1990s, the media proclaimed that rape and other sexual crimes were carried out deliberately during the Bosnian war.

The police are another group that are notorious for violating fundamental human rights. The most common violation of human rights by the police is brutality. Most of the times, the police are known to exert excessive violence when quelling riots and protests. It is a dangerous human rights violation since even though it is considered illegal, it can be carried out under the color of law. There are numerous videos and news article that show images of people being mistreated in the hands of people who should uphold and implement the very human rights.

Protection of Human rights

Undoubtedly, there are numerous cases of human rights violations . The question that ought to be considered is how these rights should be protected. When it comes to crimes against humanity, there should be a humanitarian intervention (Shelton, 2015). Although it is a highly protested debate, humanitarian intervention will go a long way in ensuring that people are not subjected to inhumane treatment. The international community should also ensure that international standards related to human rights are promoted without having an interest in a nation but for the sake of the suffering citizens.

Understanding one’s rights goes a long way in preventing human rights violations. The citizens of any nation should have adequate knowledge of their rights to ensure that they are not violated. It is often said that knowledge is power, which means that when people possess knowledge concerning their rights, they will know when the rights are violated and where to go in order to seek redress.

Due to globalization, governments should revise their laws to fight against human rights violation. In the wake of the 21st century, there has been an increase in trading activities across borders meaning that non-state actors are more involved in issues related to human rights (Shelton, 2015). Although globalization has enhanced the ability to carry out activities beyond borders, some people have found loopholes through which to violate human rights. Therefore, governments should ensure that they close such loopholes by adopting laws that acknowledge the world as a global village.

All governments across the world should put in place strict penalties against people who violate human rights. For instance, when it comes to police brutality, a country’s government through its arms should ensure that people who suffer receive justice. Sometimes, the government might turn a blind eye to such situations, but the situations brew catastrophe in the long run. In this light, the fight against human rights violation should start with the government and spread to other parties.

The enforcement and upholding of human rights goes a long way in promoting justice, tolerance, mutual respect, and human dignity. When human rights are violated, it means that there is a total disregard of basic human moral entitlements. Therefore, people should be educated on their rights and governments should play a role in protecting these rights without turning a blind eye to any situation involving human rights violation.

Bunch, C. (1990). Women’s rights as human rights: Toward a re-vision of human rights.  Hum. Rts. Q. ,  12 , 486.

Ekpa, S. (2016). Human rights violation. SSRN . Retrieved from https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2738447

MacKinnon, C. A. (2017). Rape, genocide, and women’s human rights. In  Genocide and human rights  (pp. 133-144). New York, NY: Routledge.

Shelton, D. (2015).  Remedies in international human rights law . New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Gudwriter Custom Papers

Special offer! Get 20% discount on your first order. Promo code: SAVE20

Related Posts

Free essays and research papers, artificial intelligence argumentative essay – with outline.

Artificial Intelligence Argumentative Essay Outline In recent years, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become one of the rapidly developing fields and as its capabilities continue to expand, its potential impact on society has become a topic Read more…

Synthesis Essay Example – With Outline

The goal of a synthesis paper is to show that you can handle in-depth research, dissect complex ideas, and present the arguments. Most college or university students have a hard time writing a synthesis essay, Read more…

spatial order example

Examples of Spatial Order – With Outline

A spatial order is an organizational style that helps in the presentation of ideas or things as is in their locations. Most students struggle to understand the meaning of spatial order in writing and have Read more…

IMAGES

  1. (PDF) Human Rights Law Essay (The Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

    thesis statement of human rights

  2. 17+ Human Rights Thesis Statement Examples Tips

    thesis statement of human rights

  3. Essay on "Human Rights"

    thesis statement of human rights

  4. Human Rights Policy

    thesis statement of human rights

  5. Sample essay on international human rights law

    thesis statement of human rights

  6. Human Rights Essay

    thesis statement of human rights

VIDEO

  1. UNISPAL-UN Information System on the Question of Palestine: largest digital collection on Palestine

  2. Theory of Human Rights

  3. Syria, Perm. Rep. of the Syrian Arab Republic to the UN in Geneva, H.E. Ambassador Haydar Ali Ahmad

  4. HR75: Shaping a future where human rights are for everyone

  5. Justice for survivors

  6. Belgium, Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Affairs and Foreign Trade, H.E. Ms. Hadja Lahbib

COMMENTS

  1. (PDF) Human Rights Thesis by Abdeta Emana

    The concept of human rights over time has gained popularity and recognition. It has been observed that the evolution of human rights in the present era has aroused a lot of debate and controversy as regard its justification and applicability to a human being, by virtue of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Conference in Vienna 1993.

  2. Thesis Statement On Human Rights

    Thesis Statement On Human Rights. All people are entitled to various basic rights which should not be desecrated under any situation. Some of these rights include political rights, civil liberties and most importantly the right to physical safety and life. Human rights bodies articulate for tolerance, justice, human dignity and mutual respect ...

  3. PDF Human Rights: A Brief Introduction

    The ethical basis of human rights has been defined using concepts such as human flourishing, dignity, duties to family and society, natural rights, individual freedom, and social justice against exploitation based on sex, class or caste. All of these moral arguments for human rights are part of ethical discourse.

  4. (PDF) Eight theses on human rights

    No human rights d iscourse c an afford to ignore the complexity . ... Of the u niversa lism thesis of human r ights, t he proponent s tur n on the . notion of a "common her itage of huma nity.

  5. PDF Exploring the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Social Justice

    This collection of social justice writing prompts introduces students to the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The UDHR can serve as the course theme for a whole term or the inspiration for an individual assignment. Students can read the UDHR in both English as well as their first language.

  6. PDF DO HUMAN RIGHTS INFLUENCE STATE SECURITY? A Thesis

    However, while the relationship between human rights and security appears to be real, it is also very small. Yet the direction of the correlation is consistently in the direction assumed by the prime hypothesis: human rights violations are seen to be inversely correlated with stability. Unfortunately, the study is not able to determine causation.

  7. 240 Human Rights Essay Topics & Samples

    240 Human Rights Essay Topics & Examples. Updated: Feb 29th, 2024. 26 min. Whether you're interested in exploring enduring issues, social justice, or democracy, see the ideas below. Along with human rights topics for essays and other papers, our experts have prepared writing tips for you. We will write.

  8. PDF Chen, Jason R. : CIS 498 Thesis FINAL

    The UDHR isthe leading statement of the rights that every human being enjoys by virtue of their birth;it is a non-binding U.N. General Assembly resolution, but many states operate under the beliefthat they have an obligation to defend and preserve the human rights outlined in the UDHR aspart of their adherence to the Charter of the

  9. PDF Durham E-Theses Assessing the Universality of Human Rights in the

    of work documenting the presence of human rights in the contemporary world, this thesis will ultimately look to challenge the perception that security and human rights are competing aims. This thesis will argue that the universality of human rights relates to their overarching purpose. In accordance with James

  10. Browsing LAW PhD Theses by Subject "Human rights"

    Title: The application and interplay of humanitarian law and human rights law in peace operations, with a particular focus on the use of force Author (s): WIESENER, Cornelius Date: 2015 Citation: Florence : European University Institute, 2015 Type: Thesis Series/Number: EUI; LAW; PhD Thesis Abstract: This thesis examines the application and ...

  11. Human Rights Studies

    The Human Rights Studies MA is an interdisciplinary program that focuses on the academic study of human rights theory and practice. ... The 30-credit degree program can be completed part-time or full-time and requires the completion of a thesis. ... The statement of purpose should address your motivations for applying to the program and your ...

  12. PDF A Quantitative Analysis of Reproductive Rights and Right to Life

    one of America's most divisive and partisan issues. This thesis examines the mission statements of reproductive rights and right to life advocacy groups. Mission state-ments represent what an organization is and why it exists. This paper will aim to look at this intersection, to use quantitative methods to investigate the di erences in

  13. How to Write a Thesis Statement

    Step 2: Write your initial answer. After some initial research, you can formulate a tentative answer to this question. At this stage it can be simple, and it should guide the research process and writing process. The internet has had more of a positive than a negative effect on education.

  14. PDF Labour Law and Human Rights: Legal and Philosophical Perspectives

    In sum, the thesis demonstrates that human rights are an important foundational perspective for labour law and can provide a philosophical framework to address pressing issues facing the discipline. 4 Impact Statement This thesis represents the first sustained examination of the relationship between labour law

  15. Seven Theses on Human Rights: (1) The Idea of Humanity

    Perhaps the rights to come will be anthropic (to coin a term) rather than human, expressing and promoting singularities and differences instead of the sameness and equivalences of hitherto dominant identities. Cos­tas Douz­i­nas is Pro­fessor of Law and Dir­ector of the Birk­beck Insti­tute for the Human­it­ies, Uni­ver­sity of London.

  16. Human Right Thesis, Thesis Writing Outline, Format Examples

    Human right, in simple, means the inalienable rights of freedom, justice and equality any human being is entitled with. It is one of the most sensitive areas of study a student may have to confront with. Human right thesis involves taking a clear stand on the issue concerning human rights. The various issues relevant for the study of human ...

  17. PDF MASTER´S THESIS IN INTERNATIONAL LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS

    1.4 Definitions. The word 'jurisdiction' is probably the most central word in this thesis. States have obligations under international human rights law through human rights treaties which extend their obligations both to individuals within their territory and to individuals 'subject to their jurisdiction'.

  18. Browsing Theses and Dissertations (Centre for Human Rights) by Title

    A historical-legal analysis of woman-to-woman marriage in Kenya. Kareithi, Monicah Wanjiru (University of Pretoria, 2018) This thesis sets out, against a historical background, to establish the legal status of woman-towoman marriages in contemporary Kenya. The phenomenon of woman-to-woman marriage is a form of African customary marriage between ...

  19. Universal Declaration of Human Rights

    A milestone document in the history of human rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights set out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected. It has been ...

  20. 177 Human Rights Research Topics

    The path to a great human rights thesis or project starts with a good topic. Here are the top 177 human rights research topics for top grades. Toll-free: +1 (877) 401-4335. Order Now. About; ... Develop a thesis statement. This is very important because it will be tested after analyzing the results.

  21. Statement: Reproductive rights are women's rights and human rights

    Statement: Reproductive rights are women's rights and human rights. 24 June 2022. Reproductive rights are integral to women's rights, a fact that is upheld by international agreements and reflected in law in different parts of the world. To be able to exercise their human rights and make essential decisions, women need to be able to decide ...

  22. Law

    The IR collects and maintains intellectual scholarship such as published journal articles (post-print), conference papers and proceedings, data sets, reports, theses and dissertations in a free and open environment. Electronic Theses & Dissertations completed at UJ can be searched by clicking on the arrow next to "Browse" and then selecting ...

  23. Human Rights Violation Essay Sample

    A restate of the thesis statement; A summary of the main points; A take-away statement made based on presented facts or information ; Human rights violation essay instructions - ways through which human rights are violated and what can be done to ensure human rights are protected. Human Rights Violation and Protection Introduction

  24. HRI Statement

    Today, April 19, 2024, The Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute issued the following statement: The Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute (HRI) stands with students exercising their fundamental human rights, and calls on Columbia University to protect the rights to expression, peaceful assembly, association, and the right to engage in advocacy for human rights.