Human Rights for a Better Life

Today Bloggers Unite is motivating people to blog about human rights.  You can pick whatever topic interests you; options include freedom of expression, tolerance, equality, and peace.  I’ve chosen to write about why human rights are important in the first place.

What Are Human Rights?

Different groups define “human rights” in slightly different ways and may list different examples.  Here are some samples to consider:

United Nations Human Rights

Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status. We are all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination. These rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Human rights are international norms that help to protect all people everywhere from severe political, legal, and social abuses. Examples of human rights are the right to freedom of religion, the right to a fair trial when charged with a crime, the right not to be tortured, and the right to engage in political activity. These rights exist in morality and in law at the national and international levels. They are addressed primarily to governments, requiring compliance and enforcement. The main sources of the contemporary conception of human rights are the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations, 1948b) and the many human rights documents and treaties that followed in international organizations such as the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the Organization of American States, and the African Union.

Change.org Causes

Change.org organizes actions into various “causes,” some of which relate to human rights.  These include:

• Criminal Justice
• Gay Rights
• Global Health
• Sustainable Food
• Women’s Rights

Why Are Human Rights Important?

Human rights yield many benefits.  Getting there isn’t easy, so let’s take a look at the reasons and rewards for doing all the hard work.

Human rights make life more pleasant.  When your rights are respected, you tend to be happy and healthy and safe.  You can find productive work, have a family if you wish, make a meaningful contribution to society, and develop your personal interests.

Human rights make life safer for everyone.  If other people don’t have their human rights, their misery may spill over onto you.  Countries with little respect for human rights tend to generate a lot of wars, refugees, illness, hunger, despair, abuses, and other mayhem — many of which do not respect national borders.

Human rights make us better people.   Those who respect human rights are more wholesome, honorable, and decent people than those who do not.

Human rights protect us from damaging ourselves.  It is morally and psychologically destructive to violate human rights; consider how torture harms not only victim, but also makes the perpetrator more prone to such problems as depression, insomnia, domestic violence, substance abuse, and even suicide.

Human rights allow us to accomplish great things.  When our basic needs and securities are assured, much of our energy is freed for higher pursuits. Societies that respect human rights tend to produce more and better art, music, literature, scientific discoveries, and other cultural accomplishments than societies which are brutish, chaotic, and/or oppressive.

Human rights … make us human! By defining and upholding these rights, we demonstrate what it means to be human and to be humane.  This is our collective effort, as a species, to improve life over the random chance that nature provides.  Through these rights, we create culture and society, things that last beyond our individual lives, which we alone of all species are known to do.