Human Rights

(Mohsina Mukhtar, Lahore)

We are living in a beautiful world. This is the precious gift of Allah. We can make this world more beautiful and peaceful with love, care and share. All human beings have some duties and some responsibilities in their daily life. Human rights are the sharing of these duties and responsibilities with others. It is all about knowing the value and dignity of people.

Human rights are concerned with equality and justice. They recognize our freedom to make choices about our life and develop our potential as human beings. They are about living a life free from fear, harassment and injustice.

Human rights are an important part of how people interact with others at all levels in society.

When people had better understand human rights, it will be easier for them to promote justice and the well-being of society. These rights also describe what is lawful.

Human rights cannot exist in isolation. In other words, human rights connect us to each other in a shared set of rights and responsibilities.

Human rights are not recently described. The Ancient civilizations of Babylon, China and India are the main contributors. They contributed to the laws of Greek and Roman society.
 
We can learn more about how concepts of human rights have developed.

Code of Hammurabi
King Hammurabi was an important Babylonian king .One of the outstanding rulers of early ancient times, he is especially known as a lawgiver, the author of the code which bears his name. Hammurabi is now synonymous with his code of laws.

Solon
Solon was born in Athens. He worked as a merchant in the export-import trade. Poetry was for Solon a way to entertain himself, and he also used poetry to give his ideas easy access to the minds of the Athenians.

Charter of Medina
For a peaceful world, individuals must live within the boundaries of the lawfully created universe. The Medina Charter represents the principles of law and right reason, which is higher than any individual man is. It is a landmark document, not only in Muslim history but also in the constitutional history of the world. The Madina Charter can be a good model of ways to create and continue dialogue in a society, and of ways to build and conduct political and social relationships among different groups.

Magna Carta
Magna Carta is one of the most important legal documents in the history of democracy. Magna It is concerned with many practical matters and specific problems relevant to the feudal system under which they lived. British King John was forced by his lords to sign the Magna Carta to allow that common person is entitled to judgment and that even a ruler is not above the law.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Just after the World War II, it was realized that citizens of many countries lived under the control of dictators. On 10 December, the UN General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These are universal. In other words, they belong to everyone, regardless of their sex, religion, age country.

CHILDREN’S RIGHTS
Childhood has been recognised as a time for education, recreation, growth and discovery. Children have some basic rights as given.
• having clean water to drink and food to eat
• being able to go to school or have a job
• being treated fairly by others, regardless of age, religion and country

Promoting and protecting human rights is not something that you can leave for others to do. It is everyone's responsibility. Take the time to understand and learn about human rights. We could learn a lot of from our pencil box. All the pencils have different colours, some are sharp pointed and some are dull…but they all have to learn to live in same pencil box.

Of course, we are not able to fix all the problems of the world – the best place to start is in your neighbourhood.

Our great leader Quaid-e-Azam was very keen to Human rights. This saying gives us a lesson that how to become a great and civilized nation.

We are starting with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one State. (Presidential Address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan on 11th August, 1947.)

Mohsina Mukhtar
About the Author: Mohsina Mukhtar Read More Articles by Mohsina Mukhtar: 3 Articles with 3011 views Director of TALEEM (Think Ahead & Learn Effective Educational Methods) Foundation
With an extensive experience of more than 20 years in educational i
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