Journal of Civil & Legal Sciences
Open Access

Divinity; Europe; Declaration; Labour Unions; Committee; International Awareness

Introduction

Two major revolutions occurred during the 18th century in the United States and in France. The Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776 sets up a number of fundamental rights and freedoms. The later United States Declaration of Independence includes concepts of natural rights and famously states that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Similarly, the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen defines a set of individual and collective rights of the people. These are, in the document, held to be universal - not only to French citizens but to all men without exception. Philosophers such as Thomas Paine, John Stuart Mill and Hegel expanded on the theme of universality during the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1831 William Lloyd Garrison wrote in a newspaper called the Liberator that he was trying to enlist his readers in the great cause of human rights so the term human rights probably came into use sometime between Paine's The Rights of Man and Garrison's publication [1] . In 1849 a contemporary, Henry David Thoreau, wrote about human rights in his treatise on the Duty of Civil Disobedience which was later influential on human rights and civil rights thinkers. United States Supreme Court Justice David Davis, in his 1867 opinion for Ex Parte Milligan, wrote By the protection of the law, human rights are secured; withdraw that protection and they are at the mercy of wicked rulers or the clamour of an excited people. Many groups and movements have managed to achieve profound social changes over the course of the 20th century in the name of human rights. In Western Europe and North America, labour unions brought about laws granting workers the right to strike, establishing minimum work conditions and forbidding or regulating child labour [2].

Discussion

The women's rights movement succeeded in gaining for many women the right to vote. National liberation movements in many countries succeeded in driving out colonial powers. One of the most influential was Mahatma Gandhi's movement to free his native India from British rule. Movements by long-oppressed racial and religious minorities succeeded in many parts of the world, among them the civil rights movement, and more recent diverse identity politics movements, on behalf of women and minorities in the United States [3]. The League of Nations was established in 1919 at the negotiations over the Treaty of Versailles following the end of World War I. The League's goals included disarmament, preventing war through collective security, settling disputes between countries through negotiation, diplomacy and improving global welfare [4]. Enshrined in its Charter was a mandate to promote many of the rights which were later included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The League of Nations had mandates to support many of the former colonies of the Western European colonial powers during their transition from colony to independent state. Established as an agency of the League of Nations, and now part of United Nations, the International Labour Organization also had a mandate to promote and safeguard certain of the rights later included in the UDHR. Rights in War and the Geneva Conventions The Geneva Conventions came into being between 1864 and 1949 as a result of efforts by Henry Dunant, the founder of the International Committee of the Red Cross. The conventions safeguard the human rights of individuals involved in conflict, and follow on from the 1899 and 1907 Hague Conventions, the international community's first attempt to define laws of war. Despite first being framed before World War II, the conventions were revised as a result of World War II and readopted by the international community in 1949.The Geneva Conventions are, It had been ratified by 167 countries. Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions , and relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts. It had been ratified by 163 countries. Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions , and relating to the Adoption of an Additional Distinctive Emblem [5]. It had been ratified by 28 countries and signed but not yet ratified by an additional 59 countries. All four conventions were last revised and ratified in 1949, based on previous revisions and partly on some of the 1907 Hague Conventions. Later conferences have added provisions prohibiting certain methods of warfare and addressing issues of civil wars. Nearly all 200 countries of the world are signatory nations, in that they have ratified these conventions. The International Committee of the Red Cross is the controlling body of the Geneva conventions. After the Second World War, the world manifested its deep concern for Human Rights. The United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights [6]. Later on, the UN adopted two Covenants on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Civil and Political Rights on. Bangladesh acceded to the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights . An ordinance was promulgated in 2007 which formally established the National Human Rights Commission which started functioning from December 2008 in a very limited sphere. After the free and fair general election in 2008,the Parliament enacted the National Human Rights, superseding the 2007Ordinance reflecting the Committee, appointed the Chairman and constitutional and international human rights obligation espoused in the Paris Principles relating to the status of national human rights institutions [7]. The UN General Assembly in 1993 endorsed a set of minimum criteria designed to ensure the independence, effectiveness and pluralism of the national human rights institution in the name of the Paris Principles. Accordingly, based on the 'Paris Principles' and in pursuant to the NHRC Act 2009, the National Human Rights Commission, Bangladesh was established as an independent and statutory institution. The NHRC is an independent statutory body established by legislation [8]. Though NHRC is established only in December 2008, it’s eradicated for a better and transparent commenced its de facto journey from understanding of Human Rights. Some of the remarkable features of the NHRC are its identification of the thematic areas and vulnerable groups, formation of theme wise committees to address issues, establishment of links among the different groups of stakeholders etc. Holding of policy dialogue of the Commission with the Secretaries of Bangladesh Government and nomination of Focal Points in each relevant ministry in the process of UPR is a milestone human rights arena. This has not only Created links between the Government, NGOs and UN agencies and the International Juvenile Justice Observatory international community but also helped the state actors to better prepare themselves for the 2nd cycle of UPR. As an apex national human rights monitoring body, the NHRC has been able to successfully create awareness and consensus on basic human rights issues through a series of seminars and workshops. Besides these, the Commission has organized seminars on Prosecuting Crimes against Humanity currently being tried by the International Crimes. Human Rights Awareness and through a series of seminars and Education elaborate the achievements of and in respect of its most important mandated goal of raising awareness amongst people of all walks of life [9]. The major areas of success include, among others, a Mass Awareness Campaign of Working Together for the Promotion of Human Rights, Awareness Creation on Child Rights and Juvenile Justice System, principles, Violence against Women etc. The preceding discussion gives an impression that natural Human Rights had to pass a long way to obtain the legal and international recognition. Universal Declaration of Human Rights created the stream of worldwide efforts and international co-operations for assuring human rights. Though Human Rights have a universal figure, it’s scope and periphery differ because of different socio-economic and political structure of various countries. In a well-developed social system of Europe or America, right to freedom or of thought or freedom of opinion can be regarded as the most important human rights whereas relief from poverty or ignorance is the standard of rights in a poor, developing country of the Third world. However, Bangladesh has recognized UDHR and the components of basic human rights have been enshrined in the constitution. But the widespread poverty, illiteracy, malnutrition, want of social security and abuse of rights simply point out the fact that issues on human rights are confined still in the holy pages of the Constitution [10].

Conclusion

The scenario in the arena of Human rights in other developing or underdeveloped countries is more or less identical to that of Bangladesh. It is therefore implied that the political leaders, thinkers, economists, scientists, social workers and philanthropist must do something meaningful to ensure human rights around the globe and in case of failure in this regard the world will never be a happy abode for human beings.

Acknowledgement

None

Conflict of Interest

None

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