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Adamantia Pollis and Peter Schwab, "Human Rights; A Western Concept With Limited Applicability", Human Rights: Cultural and Ideological Perspectives, Adamantia Pollis and Peter Schwab (editors), Praeger Publishers, New York, 1980. p.3. Chapters 1 ("Human Rights; A Western Construct With Limited Applicability" by Pollis and Schwab) and 2 ("Human Rights In The West: Political Liberties And The Rule Of Law" by John T. Wright) in Human Rights: Cultural and Ideological Perspectives provide a clear concise synopsis on the development of "Human Rights" in Western Europe and the United States, and on how these particular developments influenced the formation of the United Nations and its employed “Human Rights” rhetoric.

Charles Freeman, Today’s World: Human Rights, B.T. Batsford LTD., London, 1988, p.3.

of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789)]- “Men are born and remain free and equal in their rights... The aim of every political association is to preserve the natural and inalienable rights of man; the right to liberty, property, security and resistance to oppression” .®"^ These words treat each and every man as an individual possessed with 'rights' in “nature”.®^

In practice “natural rights” first took root in England with the English Petition of Rights in 1627, the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679. and the peaceful “Glorious Revolution” of 1688 which lead to the English Bill of Rights (1689); but it was the two revolutions in the late eighteenth century, in the United States of America and France respectively, that brought us our most influential (and hence, most quoted) documents for the support of individual freedom based upon the “natural rights” doctrine. These documents are the American Declaration of Independence (1776), the United States Constitution (1789), United States Bill of Rights (1991), and the F r e n c h

Images Internationales pour les Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen-Artis 89, Pour les droits de l’Homme: Hlstolre(s), Image(s), Parole(s), Artis 89, Paris, 1989, p.156- 157 This book has absolutely the best collection of "Human Rights" advocacy art work I’ve ever seen.

65 Merrilee H. Salmon points out in her article, "Ethical Considerations in Anthropology and Archaeology, or Relativism and Justice for All", that Thomas Jefferson was not advocating individual rights at the expence of community-oriented rights. Salmon mentions that the moral philosopher Francis Hutcheson had greater influence upon Thomas Jefferson's thought than John Locke, and that Hutcheson's views were closer to Hume's than Locke's. Rather than regarding rights as "residing in individuals", Hutcheson saw rights "based on persons' membership in a community and that rights existed for the benefit of the community." Salmon explains that these ideas are particularly appropriate when considering American history and the many Europeans who came to the United States to escape religious persecution in Europe. Salmon writes: "The right to freedom of religion is clearly based on membership in the (religious) community and benefits the community by protecting it from persecution. In the absence of the community, the individual simply cannot practice his or her religion." see Merrilee H. Salmon, "Ethical Considerations in Anthropology and Archaeology, or Relativism and Justice for All", Journal of Anthropological Research, Volume 53, Number 1, Spring 1997. p.47-63. see also G. Wills, Inventing America: Jefferson's Declaration of Independence, Doubleday, New York, 1978.

Declarations of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789 and 1793).®® They speak a similar language of “Human Rights” as that which is embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). While it is the French Declaration of 1789 which provides the basis for the inviolable rights of man by expressing concern for sovereignty, law, distribution of powers, fair justice, and last, but not least, 'freedom'; it is Thomas Jefferson whose voice we hear at the beginning of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with the words: ‘'W hereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,...”67 |t is safe to say that the United States and French Revolutions led to a new political era; one in which the roles of the individual and that of the state radically changed.®®

For the individual, “natural rights” created a barrier that the government was forbidden to pass. Powers of the state were to be controlled by a new legal vehicle called due process of law. Due process of law requires the state be subject to the rule of law. Actions by the state must conform with the established legal procedures. Due process also requires a judiciary free of state control or influence. It was by elevating the rule of law to a position superior to the state that the foundations for modern

The documents produced in France and the United States at the end of the eighteenth century influenced the written contents of many future constitutions, including that of Spain (1812), Norway (1814), and Liberia (1847). see David Weissbrodt, “Human Rights: an historical perspective”, Human Rights, Peter Davies (editor), Routledge, London, 1988.

67 see the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (A/RES/217 A (III)).

see Adamantia Pollis and Peter Schwab (editors). Human Rights: Cultural and Ideological Perspectives, Praeger Publishers, New York, 1980. Chapters 1 and 2.

democracy were laid. In a democracy, the state is dependent upon the consent of the governed. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, the 'Western' conception of "Human Rights" had already been established as one with a focus on individual rights, while relying upon the legal-judicial system for its promotion.

International Cooperation

Multinational concern for “Human Rights” began at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 (excluding the bi-lateral Treaty of Paris of 1814 between the British and French governments to suppress the traffic of slaves) at which the practice of slavery was condemned by Austria, France, Great Britain, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Russia.®® The Abolition Act of 1833 officially ended slavery in the British Empire; and in 1841, the Treaty of London (another treaty to abolish slavery) was signed by Russia, France, Prussia, Austria, and Great Britain; but it was the Conference of Berlin on Central Africa of 1885 which resulted in fifteen European nations agreeing to forbid slave trading. (It was at this same conference that Europeans consolidated their colonisation of Africa and began to formally draw up its boundaries.) At the Brussels Conference of 1890. another anti-slavery Act was signed; this time the United States, Turkey, and Zanzibar were signatories, along with various European nations.

Abdul Aziz Said, Human Rights And World Order, Praeger Publishers, New York, 1978. p.2. Let it be known that the practice of slavery continues this very day, while the international community continues to turn a biind eye - most notably in Mauritania and Sudan. A conference took place in the spring of 1995 on this very topic at Columbia University in New York City. It is encouraging that people are showing some concern about this issue that has been kept much too quiet.

Slavery was recognised as an illegal practice in England as a result of the Somersett case

“The General Act of the Brussels conference was the most comprehensive instrument on the subject (of slavery) until the outbreak of the First World War”/®

During this time, in addition to proposals and treaties calling for the abolition of slavery and the slave trade, there arose serious concern for the protection of minority groups and those wounded as a result of armed warfare. After personally witnessing the battle of Solferino (1859), and horrified by the violence and bloodshed it produced, Henry Dunant (Swiss philanthropist) co-founded with Geneva lawyer Gustave Moynier and others the Comité International et Permanent de Secours aux Blessés Militaires. Dunant later organised a conference, with representatives from sixteen nations, which was eventually to result in the creation of the International Red Cross and the signing of the Geneva Conventions in 1864 by twelve states. The Geneva Conventions "undertook to respect the immunity of military hospitals and their staff, to care for sick and wounded soldiers whatever their nationality, and to respect the emblem (Swiss flag in reverse - a red cross on a white background) of the Red Cross".71 The Geneva Conventions were revised in 1906 and 1929. Through the Hague Peace Conferences of 1899 and 1907, the Geneva Conventions were extended to the protection of those sick and wounded in naval w a r f a r e .72 In addition, the Hague

A.H. Robertson, 1982. p.16.