What are human rights?
“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights” Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1.
International human rights standards are values and guidelines that governments around that world have all agreed are essential for everyone to live with dignity and respect – no matter who they are or where they live.
Put simply, human rights are those conditions that need to met in order for each of us to realise our potential as human beings.
- The first modern human rights agreements
- Other human rights agreements
- Limitations of international agreements
- Articles about human rights
Development of the first modern human rights agreements
In response to the fury and barbarism of the Second World War, a shocked global community recognised the need for a fresh, international approach.
In 1945, representatives of 50 countries met in San Francisco at the United Nations Conference on International Organization to draw up the United Nations Charter. The charter was signed on 26 June 1945.
Immediately attention was given to principles of collective security, economic and social development and promotion of human rights in order to create the circumstances for a sustainable and peaceful world.
On 10 December 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was ratified by the General Assembly.
It was subsequently acknowledged that more specific guidelines on human rights were required to turn these principles into international law. Accordingly:
- The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights was ratified by the General Assembly on 16 December 1966 and came into force 23 March 1976.
- The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was ratified at the same time and come into force on 3 January 1976.
The UDHR and the two broad human rights covenants (which can be downloaded below) are generally regarded as forming an International Bill of Rights.
Other human rights agreements
While the International Bill of Rights outlines the rights of all people regardless of race, sex or creed, it has been recognised that some groups are particularly disadvantaged. Over time, conventions have been developed to cover these groups and these include:
- the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees: ratified on 28 July 1951 and came into force on 22 April 1954
- the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination: ratified on 7 March 1966 and came into force on 4 January 1969
- the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women: ratified on 18 December 1979 and came into force on 3 September 1981
- the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment: ratified on 10 December 1984 and came into force on 26 June 1987
- the Convention on the Rights of the Child: ratified on 20 November 1989 and came into force on 2 September 1990
- On 29 June 2006, the Declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples was drafted
- On 25 August 2006, the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was drafted.
More recenty, the world community has been concerned about the impacts of global warming and environmental degradation.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted in 1992 and came into force in 1994. More challenging has been the Kyoto Protocol which was adopted in 1997 but has not yet come into force.Limitations of international agreements
Conventions are put into action by each country passing laws through its own parliament. These laws commit them to meeting minimum standards and putting them into practice over time. Our Governments are therefore legally responsible for protecting our human rights.
Unlike most other industrialised countries, Australia does not have full legal protection of human rights in a Charter or Bill of Rights. Consequently, our compliance with accepted international standards has relied on the quality of individual pieces of legislation.
It is fair to say that Australia’s implementation of human rights protection has not been consistent and, in some areas (particularly Indigenous issues, housing and treatment of refugees) Australia has a poor international reputation.Articles
Go here to read a collection of articles on human rights.
