Evolution of Human Rights: A Historical Perspective

Human rights are the rights inherent in every individual by virtue of being a human. These have evolved over the ages and have been recognised through various documents, and finally culminated into the “International Bill of Human Rights: Universal Declaration of Human rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights”, which has been signed and ratified by most of the countries, thus making most of these rights as Jus Cogens. The International community and the world has awakened and understood that without the promotion and protection of human rights, the world cannot exist peacefully and the violation of these rights may lead to another world war which shall be devastating for the humanity as a whole. Thus, these rights have been considered as “Inter-related, Indivisible and Inter-dependent”. The present paper shall deal with the origin of the human rights and trace its historical evolution through ancient, medieval and modern era.