Human Rights Day (December 10, 1998) marks the 50th anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. On December 10, 1948, the United Nations adopted
this document. It is not legally binding on the signatories, but it has moral
force that commands worldwide respect. Thus, the United Nations Universal Declaration
of Human
Rights is a standard by which many people throughout the world judge the conditions
of citizenship and government internationally and within their own countries.
This document, which includes 30 articles pertaining to various human rights,
is also a focal point of education about human rights in schools throughout
the world.
CONCEPTIONS AND ORIGINS
"Human rights are the claims that all human beings are justly entitled
to make merely by virtue of their being human" (Plattner 1995, 573). In
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when this idea became prominent in
Western Europe and North America, it carried the label "natural rights"
to denote derivation of these rights from the nature of every human being. Each
person, according to the natural rights concept, possesses equally certain immutable
rights by virtue of her or his membership in the human species; it is the duty
of a just government to protect these rights.
The United States Declaration of Independence, adopted July 4, 1776, expresses
the "natural rights" idea in these memorable words: "We hold
these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these Rights Governments
are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the Consent of the
Governed. That whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these
Ends, it is the right of the People to alter or Abolish it and to institute
new Government . . . " This Declaration of Independence by and for the
people of a new American nation still has global implications. The same can
be said about the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen issued by
France's National Assembly in 1789, which proclaimed: "The end of all political
associations is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of
man; and these rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance of oppression."
The 1787 Constitution and the 1791 Bill of Rights of the United States of America
were designed and adopted to address the civic values of the 1776 Declaration
of Independence. This Constitution reflects the understanding among America's
founders that the individual's rights are at risk if a government is either
too strong or too weak. A good government simultaneously is empowered and limited.
It is empowered sufficiently by the people to secure their rights against domestic
or foreign predators. And this government's power is also limited sufficiently
by the supreme law of its constitution to protect the people's rights against
abuses by their own governors.
During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the concept of natural rights
was transformed into the idea of human rights. This change reflected an expansion
of the scope or range of rights to include two types of claims.The first and
older type is negative; it would limit the power of a government to protect
peoples' rights against its power. The second and newer type of claim is positive;
it would enhance the power of the government to do something for the person
to enable her or him in some way. Thus, the late twentieth century idea of human
rights, which incorporates both the positive and negative types, means that
"certain things ought not to be done to any human being and certain other
things ought to be done for every human being" (Perry 1998, 13).
The older negative claims on rights are exemplified by Articles 1-21 of the
United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These Articles imply that
no government or society should act against individuals in certain ways that
would deprive them of inherent political or personal rights, such as freedom
of speech, press, assembly, and religion. The newer positive claims on rights
are exemplified by Articles 22-28 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
They imply that every government and society should act for individual members
to enable them to enjoy certain social and economic rights or benefits pertaining
to social security, employment, housing, education, health care, and general
standard of living.
CONFLICT AND CONSENSUS ABOUT NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE RIGHTS
There is general or global agreement among advocates of human rights that both
types of rights, the negative and positive, must be included in a worthy constitutional
government. However, there is worldwide conflict or disagreement about which
type of rights is primary and most important in a constitutional democracy.
Advocates for the primacy and predominance of positive rights claim that "bread
is more important than freedom of speech." They argue that the duties of
government to provide social and economic welfare benefits for all the people
require enhancement of public power and authority to enter all areas of economic
and social life to promote the common good (Patrick 1991, 622). By contrast,
proponents of the negative rights tradition worry about the enormous increase
of centralized government power required to provide positive rights through
large-scale public programs. This could lead to a government so powerful and
insufficiently limited that it could arbitrarily deprive particular persons
(those out of favor with authorities) of their traditional personal and political
rights. Thus, they maintain that human rights generally depend upon the primacy
of guaranteed negative rights. They assert: a constitutional democracy that
would only recognize negative rights is incomplete; one that would only or primarily
recognize positive rights is impossible (Patrick 1991, 623).
ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVES ON THE UNIVERSALITY OF HUMAN RIGHTS
United Nations documents proclaim the universality of human rights, as did Enlightenment-era
philosophers and founders of the United States of America. So, too, have major
world religions recognized the equal worth and dignity of all persons, a universalist
idea that undergirds human rights. For example, Pope John Paul II has often
expressed the global or universal relationship between human rights and the
worth and dignity of each person (Schall 1998, 59).
These claims to the universality of human rights have been disputed by particularists
and historicists, those who see them only as expressions of Western civilization
rather than as global aspirations and standards. They view the current international
surge of constitutional democracy and human rights as cultural imperialism by
the West against the non-West. By contrast, universalists see a global destiny
for human rights, a viewpoint supported by the worldwide decline of totalitarian
regimes during the latter part of the twentieth century (e.g., the communist
regimes of Central and Eastern Europe). The universalists claim that people
everywhere, if given a choice, will choose free government and human rights.
CURRICULAR APPLICATIONS AND RESOURCES
There is a strong international movement for human rights education. According
to leading educators, teaching and learning about human rights in age-appropriate
ways is feasible and desirable from kindergarten through grade twelve and beyond.
Schools in most parts of the world have incorporated human rights education
into the curriculum. Further, international non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
are committed to human rights education. Two important sources of information
for human rights education are
(1) Human Rights Watch; 485 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10017-6104;
T: (212) 972-8400; F: (212) 972-0905; E: <hrwnyc@hrw.org> and
(2) Freedom House; 120 Wall Street, New York, NY 10005; T: (212)
514-8040; F: (212) 514-8045.
Both organizations produce annual reports on the status of freedom and human
rights throughout the world.
Two university-based centers that produce first-rate educational
materials on human rights are
(1) Center for Teaching International
(2) Center for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University
The United Nations, of course, is a key source of information and curricular
materials on human rights. The United Nations
World Wide Web site features "CyberSchoolBus,"
a collection of K-12 curricular materials and other resources for teaching and
learning about human rights and related topics, at <http://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/>.
For other United Nations educational resources, contact the United Nations Office
of Communications and Public Information, New York, NY 10017; and contact UNESCO's
Education Information Service, 7 Place de Fontenoy, 75700 Paris, France; <http://www.education.unesco.org/>.
CONCLUSION
During the second half of the twentieth century, support of human rights has
become prominent throughout the world, and the flagrant abuse of those rights
anywhere is likely to become a global concern. Most governments in the nation-states
of today's world recognize the legitimacy of international interest in the inherent
rights of every person, even if some do it grudgingly or superficially. Given
the global primacy of human rights, there should be pervasive and systematic
human rights education in schools throughout the world.
REFERENCES AND ERIC SOURCES
The following list of resources includes references used to prepare this Digest.
Hatch, Virginia and Others. HUMAN RIGHTS FOR CHILDREN: A CURRICULUM
FOR TEACHING HUMAN RIGHTS TO CHILDREN AGES 3-12. Alameda, CA: Hunter
House, 1992. ED 395 869.
Patrick, John J. "Individual Rights." In Charles F.
Bahmueller, Ed.
CIVITAS: A FRAMEWORK FOR CIVIC EDUCATION. Calabasas, CA: Center for
Civic Education, 1991, 612-623. ED 340 654.
Perry, Michael J. THE IDEA OF HUMAN RIGHTS: FOUR INQUIRIES. New
York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Plattner, Marc F. "Human Rights." In Seymour Martin
Lipset, Ed. THE
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF DEMOCRACY. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly
Inc., 1995, 573-578.
Reardon, Betty A. EDUCATING FOR HUMAN DIGNITY: LEARNING ABOUT
RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995. ED 401
187.
Schall, James V. "Principles of the American Experiment."
CRISIS 16
(June 1998): 59.
Shiman, David. "An African Perspective on Human Rights."
UPDATE ON
LAW-RELATED EDUCATION 47 (Fall 1992): 40-47. EJ 469 724.
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