Human rights and police

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Human rights are the rights that each person has to personal freedom, justice, and so on. When we talk about “human rights”, we try to define the ways in which individual men, women and children need to be protected by their governments. This is not a new concern. Some national and international charters began to set out human rights in the 17^th century. The first important statement in Europe was the English Petition of Right in 1628. In 1789, the French issued a Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. The United States Declaration of Independence of 1776 talks about the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and a Bill of Rights was established by law in the Unites States in 1791. These statements about human rights all stressed freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to pursue political goals, and the right to private property.

Instead of talking about “rights”, we may also use the term “basic freedoms” – for example, freedom of speech, freedom of association, or freedom of movement. Or we may talk about the need to be free from various evils – of freedom from want or freedom from fear. After World War II, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This called on nations to respect freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. In 1961, an organization called Amnesty International was founded in London. One of its purposes is to publicize cases of human rights violations occurring all over the world.

It is difficult for people to agree on which rights should always be guaranteed. For example, does a child have a fundamental right to be educated in his or her mother tongue? If so, Spanish-speaking children in California (for example) must be provided with Spanish language schools, if they want them. Others might say that everyone has a right to an education, but that the government should not necessarily be forced to spend money to employ special teachers for children from ethnic minorities. To take another example, does every adult have a right to a job? Some will say yes. Others will disagree and say that this is a privilege not a right, and there is no reason why the government should make sure that there is full employment. In other words, some people believe that there are many basic human rights, while others take the view that governments should not be too restricted. Others, again, believe that a government should not interfere too much in the lives of its citizens, even if it thinks it is protecting them from possible violations of human rights.

Not all countries have a Bill of Rights, but most governments agree at least in principle with the idea that every citizen must be allowed basic freedoms. In reality, however, this is not always the case. If a government is dictatorial, then it will probably not allow its citizens to maintain their rights, even if these are set out in the country’s laws. But where there is a Bill of Rights, an individual has at least a better chance of defence against any threat to his or her human rights.

1. What do human rights define?

2. What were the first most important statements about human rights?

3. What does the term “basic freedoms” mean?

4. When was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted?

5. What is the purpose of creating the Amnesty International organization?

6. It is not difficult for people to agree on which rights should always be guaranteed, is it?

7. All countries have a Bill of Rights, don’t they?

8. Why do people have a better chance of defense against any threat to their human rights if they live in a country where there is a Bill of Rights?