human rights

Introduction
Historical development
- Origins in ancient Greece and Rome
- Natural law transformed into natural rights
- “Nonsense upon stilts”: the critics of natural rights
- The persistence of the notion
Defining human rights
- The nature of human rights: commonly accepted postulates
- The content of human rights: three “generations” of rights
  - Liberté: civil and political rights
  - Égalité: economic, social, and cultural rights
  - Fraternité: solidarity or group rights
- Legitimacy and priority
  - Liberté versus égalité
  - The relevance of custom and tradition: the universalist-relativist debate
  - Inherent risks in the debate
International human rights: prescription and enforcement
- Developments before World War II
- Human rights in the United Nations
  - The UN Commission on Human Rights (1946–2006) and the UN Human Rights Council
    - The UN Commission on Human Rights and its instruments
    - The UN Human Rights Council and its instruments
  - Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
  - The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
  - The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
  - The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Its Optional Protocols
  - Other UN human rights conventions and declarations
- Human rights and the Helsinki process
- Regional human rights systems and developments
  - Human rights in Europe
  - Human rights in the Americas
  - Human rights in Africa
  - Human rights in the Arab world
  - Human rights in Asia
- International human rights in domestic courts
Human rights in the early 21st century

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Listen to former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Jeane Kirkpatrick speaking on human rights and foreign policy

At a Glance

John Locke

human rights summary

John Locke — John Locke The philosopher John Locke, oil on canvas by Herman Verelst, 1689; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

human rights

Written by

Burns H. Weston

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Oct. 23, 2026 •History

human rights, rights that belong to an individual or group of individuals simply for being human, or as a consequence of inherent human vulnerability, or because they are requisite to the possibility of a just society. Whatever their theoretical justification, human rights refer to a wide continuum of values or capabilities thought to enhance human agency or protect human interests and declared to be universal in character, in some sense equally claimed for all human...

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