Human Rights
Read time: 6 minutes
What are Human Rights?
Human rights are rights we have simply because we exist as human beings - they are not granted by any state. These universal rights are inherent to us all, regardless of nationality, sex, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, language, or any other status. They range from the most fundamental - the right to life - to those that make life worth living, such as the rights to food, education, work, health, and liberty.
As ridiculous as it may seem to us think about it, before the year 1948, humans didn't have inalienable rights! Let me reiterate, because you may have taken that too lightly:
Before a piece of paper was signed by the UN General Assembly (a piece of paper called Universal Declaration of Human RIghts), 2 individuals born in 2 different countries didn't have the same rights as individuals.
Your great-great-grandparents didn't have the same rights as you do. They didn't have any inherent right for just being a human on the planet.
Human rights are just what the name implies: Rights.
It means you are inherently allowed some things, it means that nobody can take away that right. It means you are born with a few characteristics and allowed a few things, basic things that let you be as human as any other individual on the planet.
Why should we care?
We should care because as individuals we are allowed to the same things in life. We have the same basic human rights not because we wish for everyone to be living in the most luxurious of conditions, but rather because we wish literally every individual on earth to have a basic standard of living.
We should care because for some of the people reading this, we may have experience having our right taken away from us. We should care because when other individuals or the state interveens on our basic human condition made up of the rights of being human, only then do we remember how painful it really is not to have rights. We should care because we are privilleged.
Rights =\= privillage
If you are reading this, I deeply hope you are not kidding yourself. I hope you realise how privilleged you really are.
Humans have the right to education, but they don't necesarly have the privillage to take the same great education you have had.
Humans have the right to mobility, but don't necesarly have the right to travel all around a whole continent with only an ID and a smile.
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person, but not everyone enjoys living in a peaceful country, or not surrounded by war zones.
If you are privillaged enough to be reading this, if you have the privillage to philosophise on what basic things and experiences humanity is allowed, I hope you also take on the duty of rooting for the rights of the less fortunate.
I hope you also take on the mission of keeping human rights as present human rights.
I hope you won't take your privillage, nor your rights for granted and I hope you'll help others enjoy their most basic of rights fr simply being human.