Justice, Freedom, Rights : An Introduction to the History of Human Rights

Although it is practically impossible not to encounter human rights on a near-daily basis, many fail to grasp the foundation of a concept that is necessarily defined through history. This manual aims to shed light on the emergence of the human rights and to address the current challenges in their recognition and implementation. It offers students a chronological overview leading to the establishment of the United Nations system, tracing the evolution of key conceptual paradigms such as justice, freedom, and rights. The initial part of the volume delves with an investigation into the ancient ethical values of justice, which eventually evolved into the legal recognition of collective freedoms from the late Middle Ages to the early Modern Era (chapters 1-3). Subsequent chapters trace the historical trajectory of rights within the framework of the modern state, beginning with the conceptualization of universal natural rights and culminating in the formalization of the rights of man following the revolutions of the late 17th and 18th centuries (chapters 4 and 5). In the final segment, the manual examines pivotal moments in the development of human rights in the Contemporary Era. This includes an analysis of efforts to bolster socioeconomic rights, the emergence of supranational protective mechanisms, the humanitarian movement, as well as critical examinations of colonialism and nationalism in the 19th century (chapters 6 and 7). Additionally, it scrutinizes strategies for addressing rights violations at both domestic and international level in the 20th century, alongside the establishment of international human rights law, with an emphasis on its inherent and forthcoming challenges (chapter 10).