The world is made up of many different countries cultures and people yet despite all these differences they all have one important thing in common all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights this is what it says in the very first article of the universal declaration of human rights of December 10th, 1948 the nation of human rights has become one of the most important in the history of human rights who responsible for protecting them and do they apply to all people we describe human rights as those rights which apply to every simple person simply because he or she is a human being they are innate human rights apply to every person in every part of the world.
Without exception they are therefore universal and also apply equally to everyone regardless of race religion gender sexual orientation skin color or other features that may distinguish one person from another human rights are part of international law the UN Charter of 1946 already contained important passages on the meaning and protection of human rights the first proper international agreement was the UN universal declaration of human rights in 1948 in 1966 the UN adopted two more international covenants one on civil and political rights and the other on economic social and cultural rights these declarations are collectively known as the international bill of human rights and are the most important legal basis for human rights.
In addition, there is a series of UN conventions, for example, the Geneva Convention relating to the states of refugees the Convention on the Rights of the Child the Convention against Torture or the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities but what are the specific human rights anchor these conventions human rights are often divided into three generations or dimensions the first dimensions the classic political and civil liberty rights these include the right to life and physical integrity a ban on slavery and forced labor protection from torture freedom of thought conscience and religion.
A comprehensive ban on discrimination and the right to vote are the second dimension of the economic social and cultural human rights these include the right to form trade unions equality between men and women mothers and children the right to a decent standard of living including the right to adequate food the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health the right to education and the right to participate in cultural life the third dimension deals with the rights of groups it includes the right to self-determination the right to development the right to a clean environment and the right to peace the principle of the indivisibility of human rights is important that means none of the rights listed in the political economic social and cultural human rights may have precedence over the other human rights can only be consummated when all facets work together the exercise civil
Political rights depend on the safeguarding of economic social and cultural rights and vice versa and who exactly has the job of implementing and upholding human rights countries carry the main responsibilities they are obliged to refrain from any action that would violate human rights and must protect them from violation and create the necessary conditions for people to fully exercise their human rights the UN central body is the human rights council a body of 47 countries based in geneva it reviews the situations on human rights regularly in all of the UN members states it can also send independent experts to individual countries.
The problem many countries on the council do not uphold human rights the UN Security Council concerns itself particularly with the protection of human rights during wars and armed conflicts for example it works to end the recruitment of child soldiers the high commissioner for human rights is responsible for coordinating the human rights work of the entire UN body she has local offices in all parts of the world and can send human rights experts to UN peace mission the international criminal court in the Hague with its establishment in 1998.
The world has an authority capable of investigating and passing sentences on particularly grave breaches of human rights genocide war crimes and crimes against humanity's power is still limited now it lacks the support of important countries like the USA and China but a crucial step has been taken war criminals can a longer commit their transgressions with impunity along with the global institutes of the un there are various regional human rights agreements and bodies the European convention on human rights and the European court of human rights in Strasbourg the African charter on human and people's rights under the American convention on human rights.
Civil society has an especially important role to play nongovernmental organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch monitor the observance of human rights in places all over the world they draw attention to abuses and exert pressure on governments through public campaigns they also play an important role in the ongoing development of the legal basis of human rights the creation of independent national institutes for human rights which have an indispensable role as watchdogs are also important.
Are there any controversial aspects about human rights yes there are two main points of contention issue number one is the universal nature of human rights the argument that national rights originate in the West and can't simply be transferred to other cultures the development and spread of the nation of human rights indeed carry the marks of culture developments and traditional but it is also true that no human being wants to be tortured or discriminated against because of her region or skin color every human being wants to be able to speak his opinion.
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