Human Rights were born under the protection of the United Nations (UN) and are the result of a long tradition that has its most direct roots in movements such as the French Enlightenment of the 18th century or historical episodes such as the American Revolution and the subsequent declaration of independence of the United States. Today, they have evolved to create a very specific legal body that constitutes one of the greatest achievements that humanity has made throughout history. If you want to know What are Universal Human Rights?and they delve a little deeper into its history and its future, continue reading this Green Ecology article and we will tell you about it.
What are Universal Human Rights?
Universal Human Rights are a series of fundamental rights and what are they recognized to all human beings for the simple fact of being. That is to say, there cannot be any situation in which a human person is legally deprived of any of these rights, since they are a series of rights common to any personwhich gives meaning to the “universal” character.
In this way, it is a series of rights that affect human beings and, furthermore, everyone without exception, regardless of any characteristic, whether due to sex, religion, race, origin, ideology, etc.
What are the recognized Universal Human Rights and where are they?
Although you can find different legislations and organizations that refer to various treaties and legal forms related to human rights, when we talk about Universal Human Rights we are referring to a document approved by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris, on December 10, 1948. This document is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), and is the official document, approved by the UN, that includes the rights that would fall into this category which, as mentioned, are considered the most fundamental rights of all those that any human being possesses.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is made up of a Preamble and a total of 30 itemswhere the Universal Human Rights themselves are collected. The initial Preamble constitutes an exposition of those reasons and objectives that lead the UDHR to be promulgated, as well as the fundamental source for carrying out the interpretation of the 30 articles that appear below. The 30 articles included in the UDHR are divided into groups, and each group deals with a set of rights that have common elements with each other.
Universal declaration of human rights: summary
All Universal Human Rights are detailed throughout the 30 articles that make up the UDHR. The rights are presented in detail in articles that appear in succession in the UDHR, so that different groups of rights can be found that have common relationships with each other.
Articles 1 and 2:
These are the articles that collect the most fundamental rights of all. They state that:
- Human beings, by birth, are free and equal to each other, both in dignity and rights.
- That there cannot be discrimination between one another for any reason (race, color, language, sex, religion, etc.).
- A mention is made of the obligation for there to be fraternal behavior between one another.
Articles 3 to 11:
These articles collect the rights that are associated with personal character. These articles contain the most important individual rights of all, such as the right:
- to life
- to freedom
- To safety
- The prohibition of slavery in any of its forms.
- Recognition of the legal entity.
- The prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment, etc.
Articles 12 to 17:
These articles collect the human rights that refer to the relationship that the person establishes with the community. Among the most important rights are recognized:
- The right to freedom to leave and return to any country.
- The right to property.
Articles 18 to 21:
These articles collect the rights related to thoughtto conscience, to freedom of belief and religion, as well as rights related to political freedoms.
Articles 22 to 27:
These articles recognize the human rights related to economic, social and cultural rights. In this sense, they deserve special mention:
- The right to food.
- The right to housing.
- The right to dress.
- The right to medical assistance, among others.
Articles 28 to 30:
These last articles deal with the manner and limits with which rights should be exercised, so that they establish a framework that allows guaranteeing social order at both the national and international levels in the application of the UDHR.
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