The Background of Human

Rights
The Cyrus Cylinder (539 B.C.)
In 539 B.C., the armies of Cyrus the
Great, the first king of ancient Persia,
conquered the city of Babylon. But it was
his next actions that marked a major
advance for Man. He freed the slaves,
declared that all people had the right to
choose their own religion, and
established racial equality. These and
The decrees Cyrus made on human other decrees were recorded on a baked-
rights were inscribed in the Akkadian clay cylinder in the Akkadian language
language on a baked-clay cylinder. with cuneiform script.

Known today as the Cyrus Cylinder, this ancient record has now been recognized as the
world’s first charter of human rights. It is translated into all six official languages of the
United Nations and its provisions parallel the first four Articles of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights.

The Spread of Human Rights

From Babylon, the idea of human rights
spread quickly to India, Greece and
eventually Rome. There the concept of
“natural law” arose, in observation of the
fact that people tended to follow certain
unwritten laws in the course of life, and
Roman law was based on rational ideas
derived from the nature of things.
Documents asserting individual rights,
such as the Magna Carta (1215), the

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 Petition of Right (1628), the US
Constitution (1787), the French
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of
the Citizen (1789), and the US Bill of
Rights (1791) are the written precursors
to many of today’s human rights
documents.

Cyrus the Great, the first king of Persia,

freed the slaves of Babylon, 539 B.C.

The Magna Carta (1215)

The Magna Carta, or “Great Charter,”
was arguably the most significant early
influence on the extensive historical
process that led to the rule of
constitutional law today in the English-
speaking world.
In 1215, after King John of England
violated a number of ancient laws and
customs by which England had been
governed, his subjects forced him to sign
the Magna Carta, which enumerates
what later came to be thought of as
human rights. Among them was the right
of the church to be free from
governmental interference, the rights of

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 all free citizens to own and inherit Magna Carta, or “Great Charter,” signed
property and to be protected from by the King of England in 1215, was a
excessive taxes. It established the right turning point in human rights.
of widows who owned property to choose
not to remarry, and established principles
of due process and equality before the
law. It also contained provisions
forbidding bribery and official misconduct.

Widely viewed as one of the most important legal documents in the development of
modern democracy, the Magna Carta was a crucial turning point in the struggle to
establish freedom.

Petition of Right (1628)

The next recorded milestone in the
development of human rights was the
Petition of Right, produced in 1628 by the
English Parliament and sent to Charles I
as a statement of civil liberties. Refusal
by Parliament to finance the king’s
unpopular foreign policy had caused his
government to exact forced loans and to
quarter troops in subjects’ houses as an
economy measure. Arbitrary arrest and
imprisonment for opposing these policies In 1628 the English Parliament sent
had produced in Parliament a violent this statement of civil liberties to King
hostility to Charles and to George Villiers, Charles I.
the Duke of Buckingham. The Petition of
Right, initiated by Sir Edward Coke, was
based upon earlier statutes and charters
and asserted four principles: (1) No taxes
may be levied without consent of
Parliament, (2) No subject may be
imprisoned without cause shown
(reaffirmation of the right of habeas

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 corpus), (3) No soldiers may be
quartered upon the citizenry, and (4)
Martial law may not be used in time of
peace.

United States Declaration of Independence (1776)

On July 4, 1776, the United States
Congress approved the Declaration of
Independence. Its primary author,
Thomas Jefferson, wrote the Declaration
as a formal explanation of why Congress
had voted on July 2 to declare
independence from Great Britain, more
than a year after the outbreak of the
American Revolutionary War, and as a
statement announcing that the thirteen
American Colonies were no longer a part
of the British Empire. Congress issued
the Declaration of Independence in
several forms. It was initially published as
a printed broadsheet that was widely
distributed and read to the public.
In 1776, Thomas Jefferson penned the
American Declaration of Independence.

Philosophically, the Declaration stressed two themes: individual rights and the right of
revolution. These ideas became widely held by Americans and spread internationally as
well, influencing in particular the French Revolution.

The Constitution of the United States of America (1787)

and Bill of Rights (1791)
Written during the summer of 1787 in
Philadelphia, the Constitution of the
United States of America is the

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 fundamental law of the US federal
system of government and the landmark
document of the Western world. It is the
oldest written national constitution in use
and defines the principal organs of
government and their jurisdictions and
the basic rights of citizens.

The Bill of Rights of the US Constitution

protects basic freedoms of United States
citizens.

The first ten amendments to the Constitution—the Bill of Rights—came into effect on
December 15, 1791, limiting the powers of the federal government of the United States
and protecting the rights of all citizens, residents and visitors in American territory.

The Bill of Rights protects freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the right to keep and
bear arms, the freedom of assembly and the freedom to petition. It also prohibits
unreasonable search and seizure, cruel and unusual punishment and compelled self-
incrimination. Among the legal protections it affords, the Bill of Rights prohibits
Congress from making any law respecting establishment of religion and prohibits the
federal government from depriving any person of life, liberty or property without due
process of law. In federal criminal cases it requires indictment by a grand jury for any
capital offense, or infamous crime, guarantees a speedy public trial with an impartial jury
in the district in which the crime occurred, and prohibits double jeopardy.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the

Citizen (1789)
In 1789 the people of France brought
about the abolishment of the absolute
monarchy and set the stage for the
establishment of the first French

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 Republic. Just six weeks after the
storming of the Bastille, and barely three
weeks after the abolition of feudalism, the
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of
the Citizen (French: La Déclaration des
Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen) was
adopted by the National Constituent
Assembly as the first step toward writing
a constitution for the Republic of France.

The Declaration proclaims that all citizens

are to be guaranteed the rights of “liberty,
property, security, and resistance to
oppression.” It argues that the need for
law derives from the fact that “...the
exercise of the natural rights of each man
has only those borders which assure
other members of the society the
enjoyment of these same rights.” Thus, Following the French Revolution in 1789,
the Declaration sees law as an the Declaration of the Rights of Man and
“expression of the general will,“ intended of the Citizen granted specific freedoms
to promote this equality of rights and to from oppression, as an “expression of the
forbid “only actions harmful to the general will.”
society.”

The First Geneva Convention (1864)

In 1864, sixteen European countries and
several American states attended a
conference in Geneva, at the invitation of
the Swiss Federal Council, on the
initiative of the Geneva Committee. The
diplomatic conference was held for the
purpose of adopting a convention for the
treatment of wounded soldiers in combat.

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 The original document from the first The main principles laid down in the
Geneva Convention in 1864 provided for Convention and maintained by the later
care to wounded soldiers. Geneva Conventions provided for the
obligation to extend care without
discrimination to wounded and sick
military personnel and respect for and
marking of medical personnel transports
and equipment with the distinctive sign of
the red cross on a white background.

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