Why do we have Human Rights?

man in blue and white long sleeve shirt holding human rights text

Why do we have human rights, and how do they come about? That will be the primary topic of this article, human rights of the origins from the legacy of the French Revolution (1789 to 1799).

The revolutionary principles are as follows the belief that the fundamental rights of liberty, equality, and fraternity are universal to all French citizens it was these rights and beliefs that spread from France and the United States which spread to the rest of the world.

The principles of citizenship and universal human rights, and a representative government come from two places one is the legacy of the French Revolution and the second place is founded in the American Revolution in 1775 to 1783, which inspired the French Revolution.

It’s relevant for readers interested in history and its historical context. Representative government in Europe mainly originates in the kingdom of England, particularly the legacy of Magna Carter in 1216, signed by King John of England, which is the origins of modern representative government.

In the words of Abraham Lincoln, ‘government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth’.

If you would like to know more about representative government and the English constitution, I strongly recommend watching the video by the eminent historian David Starkey called ‘England is a Crowned Republic’; here is the link.

handwritten message on brown background Human Rights — Photo by Polina Kovaleva on Pexels.com

The Horrors of World War II

A slimmed-down version of history in the 20^th century that two world wars were caused due to German nationalism, imperialism and expansionism, which caused the deaths of 20 million deaths and 21 million wounded in World War One.

The total deaths include 9.7 million military personnel and about 10 million civilians. The Entente Powers (also known as the Allies) lost about 5.7 million soldiers, while the Central Powers lost about 4 million.

As for the deaths in World War II, 1939 to 1945, those estimates of the total number of people killed during World War II have ranged from 35,000,000 to 60,000,000—a significant span because statistics about the war’s casualties are inexact

With the carnage of the 20^th century and over 80 million dead within a span of 20 years from the end of the First World War to the end of the Second World War, there was a massive public opinion and outcry for global governance and universal human rights safeguard human liberties from the horrors Auschwitz.

The Germans during the Second World War are estimated to have killed six 9 million people during the Holocaust, with at least 6 million Jews killed in extermination camps by the Nazi regime ruling Germany.

With this horrendous act, new laws needed to be created because, from an international and political point of view of that period, the Germans technically did nothing wrong due to the matter being an internal issue.

This is not to excuse their actions.

Only historically and today in Russia, from a purely international viewpoint, states technically do whatever they wish within their borders.

It’s only the post-1945 settlement and the creation of the United Nations that goes against this historical norm. Furthermore, this is why the Chinese put the Uyghurs Muslims in concentration camps, and the Russians justified their invasions of Ukraine from their ideological standpoint.