Kety
- Oct 30, 2019
- 3 min read

WHAT ARE HUMAN RIGHTS?

Human Rights are rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, anticity, language, religion or any other status. Human Rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more. Everyone is entitled to these rights, without discrimination.

Human rights are moral principles or norms that describe certain standards of human behavior and are regularly protected as natural and legal rights in municipal and international law. They are commonly understood as inalienable, fundamental rights "to which a person is inherently entitled simply because he or she is a human being" and which are "inherent in all human beings", regardless of their nation, location, language, religion, ethnic origin, or any other status. They are applicable everywhere and at all times in the sense of being universal and they are egalitarian in the sense of being the same for everyone.

International Human Rights Law

International Human Rights Law (IHRL) is the body of international law designed to promote human rights at social, regional, and domestic levels. As a form of international law, international human rights law is primarily made up of treaties, agreements between sovereign states intended to have legal effect between the parties that have agreed to them; and customary international law. Other international human rights instruments, while not legally binding, contribute to the implementation, understanding and development of international human rights law and have been recognized as a source of political obligation.

The relationship between international human rights law and international humanitarian law is disputed among international law scholars. This discussion forms part of a larger discussion on international law fragmentation.

A more systemic perspective explains that international humanitarian law represents a function of international human rights law; it includes general norms that apply to everyone at all times as well as specialized norms that apply to certain situations such as armed conflict between both state and military occupation or to certain groups of people including refugees (eg the 1951 Refugee Convention), children (the Convention on the Rights of the Child), and prisoners of war (the 1949 Third Geneva Convention).

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 of different legal and cultural backgrounds from all parts of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948. It sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected. Since its adoption in 1948.

Human Rights Conventions

A series of international human rights treaties and other instruments adopted since 1945 have expanded the body of international human rights law. They include:

The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948).

Human rights movies:

1. The Stoning of Soraya M.

A desperate woman asks for a meeting with a journalist to disclose the cruel and inhumane punishment of her niece.

2. Schindler's List (1993)

In German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.

3. Gandhi (1982)

Gandhi's character is fully explained as a man of nonviolence. Through his patience, he is able to drive the British out of the subcontinent. And the stubborn nature of Jinnah and his commitment towards Pakistan is portrayed.

4. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)

Through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp, a forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences.

5. Desert Flower (2009)

Waris Dirie, born 1965 in Somalia, flees at 13 when sold as 4th wife. She's maid at the Somalian embassy in London, then McDonald's, where she's discovered and becomes int'l top model. 1997, she speaks up against female genital mutilation.

6. Hotel Rwanda (2004)

Paul Rusesabagina was a hotel manager who housed over a thousand Tutsi refugees during their struggle against the Hutu militia in Rwanda

7. He Named Me Malala (2015)

A look at the events leading up to the Taliban's attack on Pakistani schoolgirl, Malala Yousafzai, for speaking out on girls' education followed by the aftermath, including her speech to the United Nations.