The Scope of Human Rights

The full scope of human rights is very broad. They mean choice and opportunity. They mean the freedom to obtain a job, adopt a career, select a partner of one’s choice and raise children. They include the right to travel widely and the right to work gainfully without harassment, abuse, and threat of arbitrary dismissal.

They even embrace the right to leisure. Ultimately, human rights are the basis of everything people cherish about their way of life. Long before the term “human rights” came into existence, men and women struggled, fought, and died for these principles.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the world’s premier human rights instrument. Its opening paragraph is a powerful affirmation of the principles that lie at the heart of the modern human rights system: “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.”

Yet a wide gap exists between the articulation of these goals and their accomplishment. Millions are not free. Justice is often inequitable. And peace continues to elude many regions of the world. Bridging the enormous gulf between the ideal of universal human rights and the reality of widespread human rights violations is the challenge that drives human rights advocates.