Background

Human Rights Time Line

Although the modern human rights movement is only 50 years old, humans have been concerned about basic rights and freedoms for thousands of years (1-2). For instance, though the Romans asserted that the city-state did not protect non-Roman citizens, they believed that non-Roman citizens were entitled to certain rights that the state should not violate (1).

Human rights have evolved throughout history. Up until the Renaissance, human rights were called natural rights because of their intrinsic relation to natural law. Rights were considered duties to kings or other sources of authority, such as the Church. The concept of rights gradually changed when feudalism declined in Europe and scientific discoveries undermined support for human servitude. Philosophers introduced the concepts of life, liberty, and equality into mainstream society as the ideological basis of the French and American Revolutions. During the Enlightenment period, human rights were referred to as the "Rights of Man" in an effort to separate them from the concept of natural law. During World War II, people recognized that "Rights of Man" discriminated against women, so the term “human rights” was coined (1-3).

The meaning of torture has also changed throughout history from being a legal and public act (form of punishment) before the 18th century to an unacceptable and arbitrary act carried out in secrecy (2).
The following documents, treaties, organizations, and events are considered milestones in the history of human rights.

1. Code of Hammurabi
During Hammurabi’s reign, a single code was consolidated from different Mesopotamian and Sumerian regulations that dealt with aspects of trade, labor, property, family, and slavery (4).
To view the Code of Hammurabi. Available at: http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MESO/CODE.HTM

2. Torah Mosaic Law
Thes books of the Torah establish rights in terms of duties.
To view basic information about the Torah: http://www.jewfaq.org/torah.htm

3. Treaty of Westphalia
This treaty of 1648 sealed Europe’s thirty-year war between Spain and the Roman Catholic Church on one side, and France and Germany on the other side. The treaty established the concept of national sovereignty by freeing state rulers from the Catholic Church jurisdiction. Some attribute the treaty to the thoughts of Richelieu, Chief Minister of Louis XIII, king of France (1,5).
To view the Treaty of Westphalia: http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/westphal.htm

4. The Magna Carta
This document subjected King John to the rule of law and protected the rights of nobles and the church (6).
To view the Magna Carta: http://www.cs.indiana.edu/statecraft/magna-carta.html

5. English Bill of Rights
The 1689 English Bill of Rights is one of the most important documents of British constitutional law. It forbids monarchs from suspending some civil and political rights without Parliament approval. The enactment of the English Bill of Rights came as a direct consequence of the struggle for power between the royal family and the Parliament (7).

To view the English Bill of Rights, visit either:
http://www.constitution.org/eng/eng_bor.htm

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/england.htm

6. United States Declaration of Independence
To view the United States Declaration of Independence: http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?doc=2&page=transcript

7. United States Constitution
To view the Constitution: http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?doc=9&page=transcript

8. The United States Bill of Rights
The first 10 Amendments of the US Constitution guarantee certain rights for all citizens, including those rights not specifically mentioned in the Constitution (8).
To view the Bill of Rights: http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?doc=13&page=transcript

9. Emancipation Proclamation
To view Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation:
http://www.nps.gov/ncro/anti/emancipation.html

10. Declaration of the Rights of the Man and the Citizen
This declaration attacked the political and legal system of the French monarchy and defined the natural rights of men as being liberty, property,security, and the right to resist oppression (1).
To view the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen: http://www.hrcr.org/docs/frenchdec.html

11. The Geneva Conventions
These conventions were the first international law treaties governing the conduct of nations during wartime. They created provisions for the treatment of sick and wounded soldiers at sea and on land, prisoners of war, civilians, and non-combatants.
To view all four Geneva Conventions:

• Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field. Adopted on 12 August 1949 by the Diplomatic Conference for the Establishment of International Conventions for the Protection of Victims of War, held in Geneva from 21 April to 12 August, 1949.
  Available at: http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/q_genev1.htm
• Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick, and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea. Adopted on 12 August 1949 by the Diplomatic Conference for the Establishment of International Conventions for the Protection of Victims of War, held in Geneva from 21 April to 12 August, 1949.
  Available at: http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/q_genev2.htm
• Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. Adopted on 12 August 1949 by the Diplomatic Conference for the Establishment of International Conventions for the Protection of Victims of War, held in Geneva from 21 April to 12 August, 1949.
  Available at: http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/91.htm
• Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. Adopted on 12 August 1949 by the Diplomatic Conference for the Establishment of International Conventions for the Protection of Victims of War, held in Geneva from 21 April to 12 August, 1949.
  Available at: http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/92.htm

12. The International Military Tribunal - The Nuremberg Trials
Click here to view a streaming media slide show produced by Dr. Michael Grodin. This slide show requires a RealMedia Player G2. Download a free media player here.

The Nuremberg Trials held at the end of World War II marked the birth of the modern human rights movement. During the Trials, a court charged individuals with crimes against peace and humanity for the first time in history. In particular, the Trials prosecuted Nazi Germans responsible for atrocities committed during the war (9-10).

The legal framework for the Nuremberg Trials was drawn up in 1943 when Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin signed the Declaration of Moscow, which addressed the atrocities being committed by the Nazis and issued a warning to the German government that the Allies were ready to prosecute any individual responsible for war crimes. Later, representatives from the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, and France signed the Control Council Law No. 10 in Berlin on December 20, 1945, which outlined the creation of a tribunal to prosecute war criminals (9).

The International Military Tribunal carried out 12 different trials under the mandate of Law No. 10; the Major German War Criminals’ Trial and the Doctors' Trial are the two best known. Other trials prosecuted SS officials, politicians, financiers, and bankers (9,11-12).
The Doctors' Trial left two long-lasting legacies for humanity and for medical ethics. The first one is the Nuremberg Code, a document that delimits the extent of human experimentation and sets forth voluntary informed understanding consent as the key element for human participation in any type of experimentation. The second one is a hard lesson for physicians to come to terms with: from the Nazi doctors’ instrumental participation in the extermination of millions of human beings, we witness professionals from whom people expect only the most altruistic acts become perpetrators (9,11-12).13. The Nuremberg Code: Permissible Medical Experiments
Trials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals under Control Council Law No. 10. Nuremberg, October 1946 - April 1949 (9).

The great weight of the evidence before us is to the effect that certain types of medical experiments on human beings, when kept within reasonably well-defined bounds, conform to the ethics of the medical profession generally. The protagonists of the practice of human experimentation justify their views on the basis that such experiments yield results for the good of society that are unprocurable by other methods or means of study. All agree, however, that certain basic principles must be observed in order to satisfy moral, ethical, and legal concepts:

• The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential.
  This means that the person involved should have legal capacity to give consent; should be so situated as to be able to exercise free power of choice, without the intervention of any element of force, fraud, deceit, duress, over-reaching, or other ulterior form of constraint or coercion; and should have sufficient knowledge and comprehension of the elements of the subject matter involved as to enable him to make an understanding and enlightened decision. This latter element requires that before the acceptance of an affirmative decision by the experimental subject there should [page 182] be made known to him the nature, duration, and purpose of the experiment; the method and means by which it is to be conducted; all inconveniences and hazards reasonably to be expected; and the effects upon his health or person which may possibly come from his participation in the experiment.
  

  The duty and responsibility for ascertaining the quality of the consent rests upon each individual who initiates, directs, or engages in the experiment. It is a personal duty and responsibility that may not be delegated to another with impunity.

  The experiment should be such as to yield fruitful results for the good of society, unprocurable by other methods or means of study, and not random and unnecessary in nature.
  The experiment should be so designed and based on the results of animal experimentation and an knowledge of the natural history of the disease or other problem under study that the anticipated results will justify the performance of the experiment.
  The experiment should be so conducted as to avoid all unnecessary physical and mental suffering and injury.
  No experiment should be conducted where there is an a priori reason to believe that death or disabling injury will occur except, perhaps, in those experiments where the experimental physicians also serve as subjects.
  The degree of risk to be taken should never exceed that determined by the humanitarian importance of the problem to be solved by the experiment.
  Proper preparations should be made and adequate facilities provided to protect the experimental subject against even remote possibilities of injury, disability, or death.
  The experiment should be conducted only by scientifically qualified persons. The highest degree of skill and care should be required through all stages of the experiment of those who conduct or engage in the experiment.
  During the course of the experiment the human subject should be at liberty to bring the experiment to an end if he has reached the physical or mental state where continuation of the experiment seems to him to be impossible.
  
• During the course of the experiment the scientist in charge must be prepared to terminate the experiment at any stage, if he has probable cause to believe, and in the exercise of good faith, superior skill, and careful judgment requires of him that a continuation of the experiment is likely to result in injury, disability, or death to the experimental subject.

Links:
To view the Moscow Declaration. Available at: http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/wwii/moscow.htm

To view the London Agreement. Available at: http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/imtchart.htm

To view the transcription of the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial. Available at: http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/imt.htm14. The United Nations
World leaders saw no framework in place at the end of World War II to prevent human rights atrocities from ever happening again. Thus, they envisioned a permanent organization dedicated to the protection and promotion of human rights. Representatives from 50 nations met in San Francisco with the purpose of creating the United Nations (UN) Charter, a framework to maintain peace and harmony among all nations and to promote the respect of human rights. On June 26, 1945, the Charter was signed and on October 15, 1945 came into effect with Poland as its 51st member (10,13). Following the creation of the UN Charter, delegates from different nations, under the leadership of former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, drafted a document that now constitutes the cornerstone of the modern human rights movement: the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights (UDHR). The General Assembly officially adopted the Declaration on December 10, 1948 (10,13).

Because the Declaration lacked the power to bind nations, the UN drafted two enforceable covenants: the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (10). These two covenants represent the ideological priorities of East and West, respectively. The first document protects all positive rights such as the right to work, education, health, and a safe environment. These rights are called positive because states have to take an active role in order to guarantee them. The second document protects all negative rights such as the right to life, liberty, and freedom of expression. These rights are labeled negative because states only have to respect or to avoid invading them (3,10).

References:
1. Weston BH. Human Rights. In: Pierre Claude R and Weston BH, eds. Human Rights in the World Community – Issues and Action, 2nd Edition. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, US. p 1 -31.

2. Rasmussen OV. Medical Aspects of Torture. Dan Med Bull 1990;37 (Supp. 1): 1 - 88.

3. Steiner HJ and Alston P, editors. International Human Rights in Context ; Law, Politics, Morals. Oxford University Press,
New York, 1996. p. 166- 255.

4. The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia [CD-ROM]. Columbia University Press, 1995. Hammurabi.

5. The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia [CD-ROM]. Columbia University Press, 1995. Westphalia.

6. The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia [CD-ROM]. Columbia University Press, 1995. Magna Carta.

7. The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia [CD-ROM]. Columbia University Press, 1995. Bill of Rights.

8. The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia [CD-ROM]. Columbia University Press, 1995. The Constitution of the United States.

9. Annas GJ and Grodin MA, editors. The Nazi Doctors and the Nuremberg Code - Human Rights and Human Experimentation.
Oxford University Press, New York, NY, 1992.

10. The United Nations. Milestones in United Nations History - A Selective Chronology. Available at: http://www.un.org/Overview/milesto4.htm [Accessed 05/11/01].

11. University of Connecticut Libraries. The Thomas J. Dodd Research Center. Available at: http://www.lib.uconn.edu/DoddCenter/ASC/dodnurem.htm#conduct-o

12. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Available at: http://www.ushmm.org

13. The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia [CD-ROM]. Columbia University Press, 1995. The United Nations. Links:
To view the UN Charter. Available at: http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/ch-cont.htm

To view the UDHR. Available at: http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/index.htm

To view the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. Available at: http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/a_cescr.htm

To view the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Available at: http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/a_ccpr.htm

To view other important Human Rights Instruments. Available at: http://www.unhchr.ch/html/intlinst.htm