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Human Rights
Famous or interesting or important documents that protect rights
You can find collections of important human rights documents at University of Minnesota Human Rights Library
Some of the most famous statements of rights are:
- Magna Charta 1215 – though this was a charter really of the rights of the barons or lords of the English system against the King rather than the rights of the ordinary person. Indeed, in at least one respect it is discriminatory against women. You can find a facsimile of one version of this on the website of the British Library, and also click to an English translation (the original was in Latin). Click here.
- The Bill of Rights 1688 – an important statement of the rights of the English accepted by King William when he was brought to England to take the throne in 1688. You can find it on the Avalon Project website at Yale University – click here.
- The Declaration of the Rights of Man 1789 – an important document of the French Revolution. You can find it on the Columbia University website – click here.
- The American Declaration of Independence of 1776 – which including the famous phrase " We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal". You can find it, and a lot of information, on the UShistory.org website.
- The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 – click for the English version, for Nepali and for Hindi
- The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966; for the version on the website of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights click here
- The International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights 1966; for the version on the website of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights click here
There are a large number of international treaties on human rights. Click here to go to some more information. The UN has produced a publication which includes the main treaties both in full and in a simplified version. Click here for this.
- Asian Human Rights Charter
(Note this is an unofficial document. Unlike other regions of the world there is no regional human rights charter. Contrast the European Covenant on Human Rights and the African Charter of Human and People's Rights for example). The Asian charter was produced under the auspices of the Asian Human Rights Commission click here for the full text as a pdf document or here for an html version.
Some examples of human rights provisions in national constitutions:
(Note this owes a good deal to the South African Constitution but does have some new and some slightly different ideas).
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