Human Rights in Global Perspective (GSS 2234)

Diane S. Falk, Instructor

 

The Origins of Our Understanding of Human Rights:  1750 BC to the Present

Date

Individuals, Groups

Values

Document

 

1750 BC

Hammurabi

·         “Eye for an eye; tooth for a tooth” justice

·         Protection of weak from the strong

Code of Hammurabi (1750 BC)

 

1200-300 BC

Judaism

·         Equality, dignity, worth of the individual

·         Equality under the law

·         Obligation to seek justice

·         Rights of the needy more important than property rights

Hebrew Bible

 

551-479 BC

Confucius

·         World unit

·         Brotherhood

·         a natural relation

·         a human relation

·         a relation based on equality

·         a relation characterized by mutual respect

·         a relation calling for the practice of the Golden Rule

·         Highest goal of moral life is not just self-perfection but a perfect world order

Within the Four Seas All Are Brothers

 

384-322 BC

Aristotle, the Greeks

·         Equality before the law

·         Equal respect for all

·         Freedom of speech

·         Hospitality and benevolence to strangers

 

 

3rd Century BC

Mahayana Buddhism

·         Infinite compassion

·         Responsibility to respond to suffering

Description of a Bodhisattva

 

1 AD on

Christianity

·         Sanctity and dignity of human person

·         Equality under the law

·         Notion of a higher law (natural law)

·         Obligation to seek justice

·         Positive duty to aid persons in need (give charity)

Christian Bible

 

7th Century AD on

Islam

·         Sanctity and value of human life

·         Right to seek justice

·         Obligation to perform deeds of charity

The Koran

 

5th Century BC-4th Century AD

The Romans (Cicero, Twelve Tables--449 BC, Marcus Aurelius)

·         Notions of equality, brotherhood of man

·         Justice

·         Recognizes need to protect individuals from abuses of political authority

 

 

Middle Ages (476 AD-1500)

 

·         Natural law

·         Justice that proceeds from God, the Universe, inborn qualities of human nature

·         Human dignity

·         Mankind as a single, universal community, “one body”

·         King has duty to serve; men have right to rebel if king does not serve

·         Individual has obligation to provide alms (Aquinas:  “It is the clothes of the naked that hang locked in your wardrobe.”)

Magna Carta (1215)

 

1554-1600

Richard Hooker, English theologian

·         Natural law is unchangeable and eternal, but law of the state can be altered when necessary

Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity (1594-1602--8 volumes)

 

1583-1645

Hugo Grotius, Dutch jurist, humanist, statesman, legal writings laid foundation for modern international law

·         Any nation that claims any part of the open ocean is violating natural law

·         War violates natural law, but it can be condoned if for a righteous cause

·         Humanitarian limits put on war if war is necessary

Mare Liberum (The Free Sea) (1609)

De Jure Belli ac Pacis (On the Law of War and Peace) (1625)

 

1588-1679

Thomas Hobbes, English political philosopher

·         Absolute monarchy defended by assuming existence of a social contract between ruler and ruled, which gave absolute power to monarch to control the bestiality of men

The Leviathan (1651)

 

1689

 

·         King is not to suspend the laws or interfere in the execution of the laws without the consent of Parliament (separation of powers)

·         Subjects have the right to petition the King with grievances

·         Excessive bail is not to be required

·         Excessive fines are not to be imposed

·         Cruel and unusual punishments are not to be inflicted

English Bill of Rights (1689)

 

1632-1704

John Locke, English philosopher

·         Notion of the State of Nature, natural rights of men in State of Nature--to kill others to defend property (life, liberty, and estate)

·         Political or civil society formed when members give up natural power to community in exchange for protection

·         Origin of legislative and executive power of civil society--to judge by laws how offenses are to be punished

·         Civil society formed by consent of the governed--no other way men can give up their natural rights

·         Legislative power limited by public good to society.  Laws must conform to law of nature

·         Civil society must be governed by a Rule of Law, not by arbitrary decisions

·         Property rights--civil society can’t take property from anyone without consent

·         People have a right to revolt if rulers are tyrants

Second Treatise on Government (1690)

 

1748

Baron de Montesquieu, French philosopher and jurist

·         Law is human reason

·         Law must relate to circumstances of the type of government and of the people

·         Political liberty found in moderate governments

·         Power should be a check to power

·         Separation of powers

The Spirit of the Laws (1748)

 

1712-1778

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, French philosopher

·         Can’t renounce liberty--to do so would be to renounce one’s quality as a man

·         Conventions of war--when men lay down their arms, they may not be killed or enslaved (they are no longer enemies)

·         Men are not enemies in war, states are

·         Sovereign can only impose burdens that the community requires

·         There is no right to slavery

·         Man’s nature implies equality

·         The Social Contract

·         An act of sovereignty is an agreement between the body politic and its members, lawful because the social contract is at its foundation

The Social Contract (1762)

 

1738-1794

Cesare Beccaria, Italian criminologist

·         Raised questions re:  criminal justice

·         Social contract

·         Sovereignty=sum of portions of liberty sacrificed by each for his own good

·         Right to punish comes from portion of individual liberty surrendered so that liberty can be defended

·         Limits to punishment--only can punish to degree that is necessary to protect public security

·         Torture never justified

Essay on Crimes and Punishments (1764)

 

1694-1778

Voltaire (real name Francois Arouet), French philosopher

·         Enumerates rights (natural rights) of English constitution:  liberty of person and property; freedom of the press; right of being tried in criminal cases by a jury of independent men; right of being tried only according to strict letter of the law; right to profess religion of choice

Philosophical Dictionary (1764)

 

1776

 

·         All men are created equal, have unalienable rights (life, liberty, pursuit of happiness)

·         Governments are set up to secure these rights, derive their powers from the consent of the governed

·         If the government becomes destructive, people have the right, even a duty, to alter or abolish it and set up a new government.

US Declaration of Independence (1776)

 

1787

 

·         No established religion, freedom of religion

·         Freedom of speech, of the press

·         Right of people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed

·         Soldiers shall not be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, except in time of war in a manner prescribed by law

·         No unreasonable searches or seizures of property

·         Private property cannot be taken for public use without just compensation

·         Accused has right to a speedy, public trial by jury; to be informed of nature of charges against him, to be confronted with witnesses against him, to have assistance of counsel in his defense

·         In civil suits, the right of jury trial shall be preserved

·         Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

·         Just because some rights are listed, it doesn’t mean that others may not also exist.

US Bill of Rights (1787)

 

1789

 

·         A solemn declaration of the natural, inalienable, and sacred rights of man

·         Men are born and remain free and equal

·         Aim of political association is the preservation of the rights of man:  liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression

·         Source of all sovereignty is the nation--no one can exercise authority that does not proceed from the nation

·         Liberty=power to do anything that does not injure others

·         The law may forbid only such actions as are injurious to society

·         The law is the expression of the general will

·         No man can be accused, arrested, or detained except when determined by law

·         The law should establish only penalties that are strictly necessary

·         Every man is presumed innocent until declared guilty

·         Everyone has a right to his own opinions, even religious

·         Every citizen can freely speak, write, and print, subject to responsibility

·         Public force (police) are for the benefit of all

·         Society has a right to demand an accounting of public agents

·         No one can be deprived of property, unless legally established public necessity demands it

French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (1789)

 

 

Olympe de Gouge, French feminist

·         Woman is born free and equal to man.

·         The only limit to the natural rights of women is perpetual male tyranny.

·         Men and women citizens must be equally admitted to all honors and positions, according to their ability, and relevant distinctions.

·         Woman has the right to mount the scaffold; she must equally have the right to mount the rostrum.

·         Women should have a marriage contract that protects their interests.

Declaration of the Rights of Woman (1790)

1737-1809

Thomas Paine, British born American writer and revolutionary

·         Natural rights are foundation of civil rights.

·         Men are born free and equal.

·         Government exists to protect rights--of liberty, property, security, and to resist oppression

·         The Nation (the people) have a right to abolish their government if their government becomes “inconvenient.”

The Rights of Men (1791-2)

1759-1797

Mary Wollstonecraft, British writer and reformer

·         Argues ardently for equality of education and opportunity between the sexes.

Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)

1797-1883

Sojourner Truth, US abolitionist and feminist, freed slave, mystic and preacher

·         Charismatically advocated on behalf of women’s rights and the abolition of slavery.

 

1724-1804

Immanuel Kant, German philosopher

·         A right is a restriction of each individual’s freedom so that it harmonizes with freedom of everyone else

·         Civil state based on freedom of every member as human being; equality of each as subject; independence of each member as a citizen

·         Inalienable rights--no one can voluntarily renounce his rights

On the Relationship of Theory to Practice in Political Right (1792)

1748-1832

Jeremy Bentham, English barrister

·         Law is a necessary evil--use law only to prevent injury to others (not to prevent injury to self)

Principles of Legislation (1802)

1806-1873

John Stuart Mill, British philosopher and economist

·         Liberty of opinion necessary to human advancement

·         Diversity leads to human advancement

Essay on Liberty (1859)

1863

Abraham Lincoln, US President

“As a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing...rebellion,” all slaves in the rebellious states are to be freed.

Emancipation Proclamation (1863)

1817-1895

Frederick Douglass, US abolitionist

·         A wrong done to one man is a wrong done to all men.

·         There are many prejudices:  rich against poor, idle against working man, religious prejudice.

·         There is “no foundation in reason or justice for woman’s exclusion from the right of choice in the selection of the persons who should frame the laws.”  (right to vote)

·         “When a great truth once gets abroad in the world; no power on earth can imprison it, or prescribe its limits, or suppress it.  Such a truth is woman’s right to equal liberty with man.”

·         “The most telling, the most killing refutation of slavery, is the presentation of an industrious, enterprising, upright, thrifty and intelligent free black population.”

Volume IV of his works:  The Democratic Spirit (On Prejudice, Woman’s Rights, The Elevation of Labor, An Industrial College) (after 1865)

 

1864, 1949

Geneva Conventions

Provided for humane treatment of combatants and civilians in wartime.

 

 

1870

 

African American males given the right to vote.

15th Amendment to the US Constitution

 

1815-1902

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, US campaigner for women’s emancipation

·         Organized Seneca Falls Convention (with Lucretia Mott) in 1848.

·         Men and women are created equal.

·         Women have a right to vote.

Declaration of Sentiments (1848), The Women’s Bible (1895), History of Woman’s Suffrage (1881-1922)

 

1869-1948

Mohandas Gandhi, South African lawyer, developed strategy of non-violent resistance to oppressive, racist governmental policies--inspiration for US Civil Rights Movement

·         Men have no obligation to obey unjust laws.  To do  so is slavery.

·         Passive resistance, soul force, is superior to force of arms.

Passive Resistance (1909), Means and Ends (1924)

 

1884-1962

Eleanor Roosevelt, US diplomat, writer, First Lady, outspoken advocate of human rights

 

Chaired commission that drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

 

1920

 

Women achieve the right to vote.

19th Amendment to the US Constitution

 

1945

 

 

United Nations Charter (1945)

 

1948

 

 

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

 

1929-1968

Martin Luther King, US clergyman and civil rights leader, Nobel Peace Prize recipient (1964)

 

Address at March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (1963); Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech (1964)

 

1921-1989

Andrei Sakharov, Soviet physicist and dissident, Nobel Peace Prize recipient (1975)

 

Letter from Gorky; Soviet Society, My Country and the World (1975); The Danger of Thermonuclear War

 

1935-

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, Traditional governmental leader and highest priest of Lamaist religion in Tibet and Mongolia, Nobel Peace Prize recipient (1989)

 

Nobel Prize for Peace Acceptance Speech (1989)

 

1979

 

 

Chinese Declaration of Human Rights

 

1979

United Nations

 

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

 

1989

United Nations

 

Convention on the Rights of the Child

 

1992

United Nations

 

Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to Ethnic, Religious, and Linguistic Minorities

 

1959-

Rigoberta Menchu, Leader of indigenous peoples’ movement, Nobel Peace Prize recipient (1995)

 

Human Rights in an Interdependent World:  Keynote Address (1995)

 

1995

United Nations

 

Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing