Human rights are the basic freedoms and dignity that every person is born with. They are the things we cannot voluntarily give up or have taken away from us, and they are protected by international law. They include civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.
Despite the horrifying crimes of WW2 and the subsequent founding of the United Nations, it took a long time before human rights became a central part of global politics. Even then, they were often subordinated to realpolitik.
The phrase “human rights” is relatively new, having only come into popular usage in the 20th century, along with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It replaced the earlier term natural rights, which had fallen into disrepute along with the 19th century theory of natural law and the emergence of legal positivism (a competing theory that rejected the notion that law must be moral to be legitimate).
While most people understand basic human rights such as the right to food and safety, many do not know about other fundamental rights like the right to education or free speech. It is critical that we make human rights a priority, both to protect those who have been violated and to prevent future violations.
The key to preventing future violations is accountability. When human rights violators do not face consequences, they will be more likely to commit future atrocities. To address this, the UN has established various mechanisms and approaches for addressing specific rights violations. These include the Human Rights Council, Special Procedures, and treaty bodies.