What are human rights? What is their source?

Jennifer Baranowski

PHCC-104-SF3

Professor N. Turetzky, PhD
January 17, 2012

 

What are Human Rights? What is their source?

 

     If you ask an average person to define human rights, they are likely to list the three pillars of the term: freedom, justice, and equality. Human rights are defined as "entitlements pertaining to those needs and desires that other people are obligated to fulfill or to allow you to fulfill" (Amesbury and Newlands 24) and are "the common birthright of humanity in their possession and cannot depend on one's membership in any particular community" (Amesbury and Newlands 27-28) - in other words, rights could be described as entitlements that one is entitled to because he or she is human. Pretty simple, right? Unfortunately, because of human nature, we tend to want to complicate human rights. It could be argued that some religious groups and governments worldwide feel that they are the key holders and the authority on human rights; that their beliefs on how to live trumps their constituent’s human rights. Regrettably, that is not necessarily the case, and in forcing their agendas, freedoms, justice, and equality are impeded.

     Human rights are often the basis for our laws; the United Nations (UN) devised an objective, neutral, and unreligious list of thirty human rights that serves "as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society… shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms" (The United Nations). Everyone can recall a time when they've witnessed human rights violations. The obvious example would be the Holocaust - Jewish people were murdered because of their ethnicity and religious faith. We've witnessed ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and Rwanda (just to name two) - massacres based on differences in ethnicity and culture. In just the past decade, we've seen ignorance and intolerance between Christians and Muslims grow into acts of terror and injustice. Daily we see news programs that tell us about hate crimes, rapes, and murders in our own cities and towns. If we humans have a list to guide us, why do some people continue to violate the rights of others? A theory could be that we lose a touch of our humanity we hold on to our own egocentricity.

     Human rights violations are undoubtedly brought on by intolerance. Instead of embracing others' distinctions, there are some in society that want to destroy them for it. Some people fear difference. A homogenous world is bland - difference gives our world color and variety. "Christian humanism is a powerful antidote to the fear that seems to dominate the human encounter with ‘difference’; that humanity remains capable, under grace, of building a civilization worthy of those made in the image and likeness of God" (Weigel). In ideal conditions, humans attempting to act in the likeness of God, no matter the religion, would bolster human rights. The one problem with that is deciding to act in the likeness of God is open to misinterpretation. The Judeo – Christian – Islamic foundations are arguably peace, love, and coexistence, but unfortunately, the extremists in each of these sects make it appear otherwise.

     The basis and source of human rights is arguably the equality of every human being. In acknowledging the equality of all, that no one is better or worse than the other, human rights will be assured. If equality is the brick in human rights, then empathy should be the mortar. It is easy to want to protect the rights of someone when you see yourself in his or her eyes. Only through a foundation of equality and empathy can human rights be valued and honored.

Works Cited:
Amesbury, Richard and George M. Newlands. Faith and Human Rights: Christianity and the Global Struggle for Human Dignity. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2008. Kindle Edition.

The United Nations. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. © 2012. 13 January 2012. http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/.

Weigel, George. "The Catholic Human Rights Revolution." n.d. www.ewtn.com. Document. 12 January 2012. www.ewtn.com/library/CHISTORY/HRREVOLU.TXT.