📘 Fact Sheet: Human Rights

Meaning • Basis • Treaties • Monitoring • UGC-NET facts — mobile-friendly

Meaning

Human rights are equal and inalienable individual entitlements against state/society — held simply because one is a human being of equal worth.

Most international human rights are listed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the two major International Human Rights Covenants.

Basis / Justification of Universality

• Natural law: rights flow from a supreme moral principle or human nature.
• Rationality: rights are justified by reasoned moral argument.
• Positivism / Practice: rights grounded in historical/legal practice and shared experience.

Human rights are consistent with ideas of democracy and justice and are closely linked to social contract traditions, liberalism, and individualism.

Key International Treaties (select)

Foundational documents & core covenants

• UDHR (1948) — Universal Declaration of Human Rights (adopted 10 Dec 1948, 30 Articles).
• ICCPR (1966) — International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights (1st generation rights).
• ICESCR (1966) — International Covenant on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights (2nd generation rights).

Both ICCPR and ICESCR entered into force in 1976.

Other important conventions (chronological)

• ICERD (1965) — Elimination of Racial Discrimination (in force 1969).
• CEDAW (1979) — Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
• CAT (1984) — Convention Against Torture.
• CRC (1989) — Convention on the Rights of the Child.
• ICRMW (2003) — Protection of Rights of Migrant Workers & Families.
• CED (2006) — Protection from Enforced Disappearance.
• CRPD (2007) — Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Organisations Monitoring Human Rights

UN System

• UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) — Established 2006; 47 member states (intergovernmental body).
• OHCHR — Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (secretariat to UNHRC; established 1993).

National systems

• National Human Rights Commissions (statutory/bodies in many states). Example: NHRC (India) set up in 1993 under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993.

International NGOs

• Amnesty International — HQ: London.
• Human Rights Watch — HQ: New York.

Important Facts (UGC-NET / Quick Revision)

• UDHR adopted on 10 Dec 1948 (30 Articles).
• ICCPR & ICESCR: both opened 1966, entered into force 1976.
• Common article in ICCPR & ICESCR: Article 1 (Right to self-determination).
• Minority rights in ICCPR: Article 27.
• Former name of the UNHRC: UN Commission on Human Rights (until 2006).
• NHRC (India) established under PHRA in 1993 — statutory body.
• Key treaties & dates to remember: CEDAW (1979), CRC (1989), CRPD (2007).
• Contesting idea to universality: Cultural relativism (e.g., Asian Values critique — Mahathir Mohamad).
• US president associated with human-rights foreign policy: Jimmy Carter.
• Example: country removed from UNHRC in 2022 — Russia (contextual; check latest developments if needed).
• OHCHR (current head recorded in your notes): Volker Türk (Austria).

Quick Concepts & Revision Tags

Remember: UDHR • ICCPR • ICESCR • OHCHR • UNHRC • Cultural Relativism • Universalism