History

Human rights is a concept that has been constantly evolving throughout human history. They
been intricately tied to the laws, customs and religions throughout the ages. One of the first
examples of a codification of laws that contain references to individual rights is the tablet of
Hammurabi. The tablet was created by the Sumerian king Hammurabi about 4000 years ago.
While considered barbaric by today's standards, the system of 282 laws created a precedent for a
legal system . This kind of precedent and legally binding document protects the people from
arbitrary persecution and punishment. The problems with Hammurabi's code were mostly due to
its cause and effect nature, it held no protection on more abstract ideas such as race, religion,
beliefs, and individual freedoms.
It was in ancient Greece where the concept of human rights began to take a greater meaning than
the prevention of arbitrary persecution. Human rights became synonymous with natural rights,
rights that spring from natural law . According to the Greek tradition of Socrates and Plato,
natural law is law that reflects the natural order of the universe, essentially the will of the gods
who control nature. A classic example of this occurs in Greek literature, when Creon reproaches
Antigone for defying his command to not bury her dead brother, and she replies that she acted
under the laws of the gods. This idea of natural rights continued in ancient Rome, where the
Roman jurist Ulpian believed that natural rights belonged to every person, whether they were a
Roman citizen or not.
Despite this principle, there are fundamental differences between human rights today and natural
rights of the past. For example, it was see as perfectly natural to keep slaves, and such a practice
goes counter to the ideas of freedom and equality that we associate with human rights today. In
the middle ages and later the renaissance, the decline in power of the church led society to place
more of an emphasis on the individual, which in turn caused the shift away from feudal and
monarchist societies, letting individual expression flourish.
The next fundamental philosophy of human rights arose from the idea of positive law. Thomas
Hobbes, (1588-1679) saw natural law as being very vague and hollow and too open to vast
differences of interpretation . Therefore under positive law, instead of human rights being

absolute, they can be given, taken away, and modified by a society to suit its needs. Jeremy
Bentham, another legal positivist sums up the essence of the positivist view:
Right is a child of law; from real laws come real rights, but from imaginary law, from "laws of
nature," come imaginary rights.Natural rights is simple nonsense. (J.Bentham, Anarchichical
Follies, quotes in N.Kinsella, "Tomorrow's Rights in the Mirror of History" in G. Gall, ed., Civil
Liberties in Canada (Toronto:Butterworths, 1982), p.17.)

HUMAN RIGHTS DEFINED

What are your human rights?
Lets start with some basic human rights definitions:
Human: noun
A member of the Homo sapiens species; a man, woman or child; a person.
Rights: noun
Things to which you are entitled or allowed; freedoms that are guaranteed.
HumanRights: noun

The rights you have simply because you are human.

If you were to ask people in the street, What are human rights? you would get many different
answers. They would tell you the rights they know about, but very few people know all their
rights.
As covered in the definitions above, a right is a freedom of some kind. It is something to which
you are entitled by virtue of being human.
Human rights are based on the principle of respect for the individual. Their fundamental
assumption is that each person is a moral and rational being who deserves to be treated with
dignity. They are called human rights because they are universal. Whereas nations or specialized
groups enjoy specific rights that apply only to them, human rights are the rights to which
everyone is entitledno matter who they are or where they livesimply because they are alive.
Yet many people, when asked to name their rights, will list only freedom of speech and belief
and perhaps one or two others. There is no question these are important rights, but the full scope

of human rights is very broad. They mean choice and opportunity. They mean the freedom to
obtain a job, adopt a career, select a partner of ones choice and raise children. They include the
right to travel widely and the right to work gainfully without harassment, abuse and threat of
arbitrary dismissal. They even embrace the right to leisure.
In ages past, there were no human rights. Then the idea emerged that people should have certain
freedoms. And that idea, in the wake of World War II, resulted finally in the document called
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the thirty rights to which all people are entitled.

A BRIEF HISTORY 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 other decrees were recorded on a baked-clay cylinder in the Akkadian language with
cuneiform script.
Known today as the Cyrus Cylinder, this ancient record has now been recognized as the worlds 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 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 todays human rights documents.
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 all free citizens to own and inherit property and to be
protected from excessive taxes. It established the right 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 kings 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 had produced in Parliament a violent hostility to Charles and
to George Villiers, 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 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.
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 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 first ten amendments to the Constitutionthe Bill of Rightscame 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 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 Dclaration des Droits de lHomme 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, the Declaration sees law as an expression
of the general will, intended to promote this equality of rights and to forbid only actions harmful to
the 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.
The main principles laid down in the Convention and maintained by the later 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.

The United Nations (1945)

World War II had raged from 1939 to 1945, and as the end drew near, cities throughout Europe and
Asia lay in smoldering ruins. Millions of people were dead, millions more were homeless or starving.
Russian forces were closing in on the remnants of German resistance in Germanys bombed-out capital
of Berlin. In the Pacific, US Marines were still battling entrenched Japanese forces on such islands as
Okinawa.
In April 1945, delegates from fifty countries met in San Francisco full of optimism and hope. The goal
of the United Nations Conference on International Organization was to fashion an international body to
promote peace and prevent future wars. The ideals of the organization were stated in the preamble to
its proposed charter: We the peoples of the United Nations are determined to save succeeding
generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to
mankind.
The Charter of the new United Nations organization went into effect on October 24, 1945, a date that
is celebrated each year as United Nations Day.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
By 1948, the United Nations new Human Rights Commission had captured the worlds attention.
Under the dynamic chairmanship of Eleanor RooseveltPresident Franklin Roosevelts widow, a human
rights champion in her own right and the United States delegate to the UNthe Commission set out to
draft the document that became the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Roosevelt, credited with
its inspiration, referred to the Declaration as the international Magna Carta for all mankind. It was
adopted by the United Nations on December 10, 1948.
In its preamble and in Article 1, the Declaration unequivocally proclaims the inherent rights of all
human beings: Disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have
outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy
freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest
aspiration of the common people...All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
The Member States of the United Nations pledged to work together to promote the thirty Articles of
human rights that, for the first time in history, had been assembled and codified into a single
document. In consequence, many of these rights, in various forms, are today part of the constitutional
laws of democratic nations.

All India Council of Human Rights, Liberties and Social Justice

AIMS & OBJECTIVES

The Aims and objects for which the society established are as under:-

1.

To create a sense of brotherhood, co-operation, mutual harmony, love

and affection amongst the member of the society and also all Art, &
Cultural, Education & Welfare.

2.

To create an environment as well as an understanding that Human

Rights can easily become vulnerable to abuse of various structures and
processes of power and to examine the inter-dependence of and linkage
between

Human

Rights

and

democracy,

pluralism,

development,

ecological balance, peace and harmony at the national and international

levels.
3.

To train the young men and women for facing the challenges of the
pluralistic society and the rising conflicts and tensions in the name of
particularistic loyalties to caste, religion and culture and to work in close
cooperation with national Human Rights commissions on women,
minorities, S.C., S.T. and NGOs and media organizations for promoting
Human Rights education.

4.

To make people aware of Human Rights duties, privileges conduct

training

camps

&

workshops;

establish

old

age

homes,

residential/vocational schools & colleges, research & medical colleges

and Human Rights Camps.
5.

To promote art & culture, maintain, encourage, and assist/help setting

up Centers for promotion of Human Rights, Liberties, and Social Justice
& Fundamental Rights.

6.

To act as a watch dog for any kind of human rights , Liberties & social
justice violations and to save the liberties of the people , To act as a

advocacy group regarding issues that impact the social , economic and
political life of the citizen of India ,To act as a pressure group for the
advancement of good governance of human rights, social justice,
economics equality and political awareness , To operate as an action
group in pursuit of development of activity in the field of education,
health & nutrition and environment , To initiate, develop, support,
augment, sustain or promote activities , projects or enterprises that
relate to any or all of to above mentioned aims and objectives
7.

To Approach to the competent Central Government/ State Government /

Police / Human rights Commissions /Court/ Courts to safeguard the
rights of the general public and for the public interests from time to time
as the society may deem fit and proper

8.

To promote social progress and better standards of life and activity in

cooperation with the Government of India and other countries to promote
human rights education and for promotion of Human Rights, Liberties,
Social Justice & Fundamental Rights.

9.

To develop a more distinctive and effective role for the International Court
of Justice to fulfill the Human Rights and spread the messages/values of
Human Rights by way of Human Rights education.

10.

To open training camps and workshops for the development of arts, plays
and culture and raise funds through subscriptions, donations, trade to
fulfill the aims and objects.

11.

To establish and conduct centers of treatment and rehabilitation for the

victims of violators of Human Rights ,Liberties, Social Justice &
Fundamental Rights

12.

To actively join hands with the Government of India and other countries
to promote Human Rights education and help legal, social and economic
discrimination against women and their exploitation in different ways.

13.

To publish books, encyclopedias, monographs, journals and directories

on Human Rights and study and prepare reports on the violation, etc.

14.

To effectively work for gender inequalities, exploitations and injustice as

also to encourage / assist talented artists, poets, singers, writers, social
workers, journalists, doctors, judges, etc.

15.

To organize and participate in cultural programmes to foster a spirit of

nationalism to achieve co-operation in solving various problems of
economic, social, cultural or humanitarian character and in promoting
and encouraging respect for human rights.

16.

To help freedom fighters, widows/war widows and orphans and running

schools, colleges & similar institutions, etc.

17.

To work for ensuring that basic Human Rights, Liberties, Social Justice
& Fundamental Rights are respected everywhere and to keep the interest
of dis-empowered communities foremost in all dealings with countries in
which Human Rights violations occur.

18.

To support through the UN framework, democratic and economic reforms

in countries coming out to totalitarian control and to restrict cooperation

with governing regimes that violate Human Rights , Liberties, Social

Justice & Fundamental Rights.
19.

To appoint National and International Press Representative , reporter ,

Journalist , Correspondent , Camera men , Campus, Editor, Bureau chief
to captures , shoots , records and report on Human rights, Liberties and
social justices , fundamental rights Violations and other reporting which
need to be public for Print Media , Electronic Media, News Agency, Radio
etc.

20.

All The National and International Press Representative , reporter ,

Journalist, Correspondent, Camera men , Editor, Bureau chief will be
provided with proper National Press card, Stickers , membership
Certificate etc.

21.

To

create

various

wings

Council,

units

Committee

(National/International/All India level) in the fields of legal, environment,

media, youth, women, spiritual, political, Jail Reforms, RTE, RTI , Police
reforms, publication, health, film, trade, education, project and planning,
technology, labour and culture.

These wings will be functioning

independently and globally under the cover of National Council Of News

and Broadcasting ans AICHLS Head Quarters and the Governing Body.
22.

To establish National and International Campus anywhere in India or

abroad to achieve the objectives mentioned above.

23.

To popularize Human Rights education by way of case studies,

documentaries and distance learning programmes and to establish
electronic, print and voice media to promote All India Council Of Human

Rights, Liberties & Social Justice and National Council Of News and
Broadcasting activities in India and abroad.
24.

To produce , Coverage , distribute , purchase, sell, export, import,

process,
(

edit,

hire,

national/International),

exhibit
video,

and

distribute

films,

telefilms,

the
T.V.

News
serials,

Documentary films, advertisement films and all other formats of films,

films gazettes, computer recordings, computer graphic, computer effects
and all kinds of audio and video equipment and accessories.
25.

To promote, aid, help, encourage, develop, protect and secure the

interests of the Indian Press and Media, Indian television, Indian Film
Industry and other related entities.

26.

To revive and encourage the Indian Cultural and Literature, and literacy,
cultural and other social activities Essay Competitions, Exhibitions,
Awareness programmes, Adult Education, Classes lectures Symposiums
Cultural programmes, press conferences and seminars.

27.

Conduct workshops, cultural programs, festivals, television shows,

produce films and publish books, magazines, journals, newspapers
electronic and other new & emerging media.

28.

To Open and establish Charitable hospitals and clinics in various places

for giving treatment in the various diseases

29.

To Publish Daily, Weekly News Paper & Magazines, Monthly, Yearly and
any other knowledge books from anywhere in India and abroad to
improve common knowledge.

30.

To

open

and

run

ad-films,

Telefilms,

Serials,

Music

Albums,

Documentaries, Promotions, Grooming, Corporate Films C.D. Films,

Education & Children Films, Feature Films, Audio-Video, Music, Albums
& Films Marking, T.V. Commercial, T.V. serial programs, art & culture,
event programs, event management art & culture etc., To promote &
educate

Equality,

as

well

as

Equity,

International

Integration,

Brotherhood, Non-Violence, Love, Peace, Justice, Protection & Promotion

of Human Rights for all.
31.

To establish an educational institution, maintain and run a boarding

house, residential institutions for the students and those connected with
the institutions into other branches as per Govt. Rules.

32.

To accept, purchase, take on lease, exchange, hire or otherwise acquire

and also to sell give on lease, mortgage, or otherwise lawfully deal with
any immoveable property acquire any right privileges for the purpose as
per Govt. Rules.

33.

To invest, dispose off, transfer and otherwise deal with the subject and
various other matters of the society.

34.

To accept gifts, donations, grants, presents and other offerings and to

deal with the same for the use of the society.

35.

To train and equip the pupils so as to be self-supporting in an honorable

and decent way of life so as to develop into good healthy and progressive
citizen

36.

To receive financial and non-financial assistance From Govt. /Non-Govt.

organization, international bodies, Banks, Company, and any other legal
entity or individual for affiancing the objects of the organization and to
fulfill the needs of the people.

37.

To accept donations, grants, presents, gifts and other offerings (in the
shape of moveable or immoveable properties) and the same shall be
utilized for the promotion of Aims & Objects of the above society.

38.

To

purchase

acquire

lands

for

society

purpose

and

other

establishments and to construct building thereon for the cause of society.

39.

To erect, construct, alter, maintain, sell, lease, mortgage, transfer,

improve, manage and / or develop all any part of the property or the
building of the above society necessary or convenient for the purpose of
the attainment of the Aims and Objects of the society.

40.

To perform all such acts as may be necessary for the achievement and
accomplishment of the above mentioned aims and objects and allied
social activities. To open and maintain schools colleges and other
concern with employment education for the children women and elder
person.

41.

To such other things/acts/activities, which are necessary and which may

be incidental or conducive to the attainment of any of the objects of the
Society.

42.

To apply and get Registered U/S-10(23C) (iiiab), (iiiad) and vi, u/s
10(23c), (iiic), (iiiac) and (vi A Section 11, 12 and 80G of Income Tax and

get Registered , Press information Bureau , Press Club of India , Press

Council of India, PTI,UNI and other international organization
43.

Society will invest its surplus, money and funds according to Sections11(5) of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

44.

Promote organization of forums such as co-operative societies, mandals

and association of women, youth and workers with a view to undertaking
collective activities for socio-economic development.

45.

Organize educational and vocational training programme with special

focus for deprived sections, women/girls and unemployed youth to
provide new skills, refine/sharpen/upgrade the existing skills leading to
employment, self employment and income generation.

46.

To follow, adopt & promote Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

Liberties, Social Justice & Fundamental Rights of United Nations and
Indian Constitution & National-International Law.

47.

To spread awareness about Protection of Environments and Population

Control.

48.

To Promote/Solve Cause of Health Care, Food Problem, Housing/Shelter

Problems

&

Humanitarian

Relief/Refugees

Indigenous

People

Problems.
49.

To help Disabled, Children, Youth, AIDS Patients, Aging People, Drug

Addicts, HIV Victims.

50.

To Promote Welfare of Labour Union Rights & Economic & Social

Development.

51.

To promote & educate Equality, as well as Equity, International

Integration, Brotherhood, Non-Violence, Love, Peace, Justice, Protection
& Promotion of Human Rights for all.

52.

To organize Conferences , National/International Awards, Summits,

Seminars, Meetings, Discussions, Debates, Study Courses, Collection of
Statistics, Exhibitions, Shows, Tour Trips etc. (India and abroad)

53.

To provide legal aid and advice for the indigent and weaker sections of
the society and to share global health and global population change with
the National Legal services Authority and State legal services Authority

54.

To suggest action for violation of rights by armed political groups and

terrorists.

55.

All India Council Of Human Rights, Liberties & Social Justice will remain
the core body to function and control the National Council Of News and
Broadcasting.

56.

National Council Of News and Broadcasting will create a corpus out of

trading activities on no-profit-no-loss basis to sustain its activities/
projects from the self-generated resources. National Council Of News and
Broadcasting can also participate in joint venture projects with the
Government of India or State Government Departments, Authorities
approved by the Government or any other agencies approved by the
Government in India and abroad, as the case may be.

57.

To support and implement any other issues other than what has been
mentioned above in consonance to our Objectives.

58.

To promote social progress and better standards of life and activity in

cooperation with the Government of India and other countries to promote
Press / Media (in All Forms) and appoint press representative to
cooperate and deals with all press club of states in India and
International.

59.

To open training camps and workshops for the development of arts, plays
and culture and raise funds through subscriptions, donations, trade to
fulfill the aims and objects.

All the income earnings, movable, immovable properties of the society shall be solely
utilized and applied towards the promotion of its aims and objects only set forth in the
Memorandum of Association and no profit, dividends, bonus or in any manner whatsoever to
the present or past member of the society or to any persons claiming through any or more of
the present or past member. No member of the society shall have any personal claim on any
moveable or immoveable properties of the society or make any profit, whatsoever by virtue
of his/her membership.