Human rights are the fundamental rights and freedoms all individuals should be able to expect and demand simply because they are human. They are intrinsically connected and cannot be viewed in isolation: the enjoyment of one right depends on the enjoyment of many others, and none should be taken for granted. The enjoyment of human rights also requires that people respect other people’s rights, and that governments establish and enforce laws ensuring this happens.
The idea that human rights are universally desirable and enforceable has received wide acceptance only since World War II, with the establishment of the United Nations in 1945, and with the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948. It replaced the earlier phrase natural rights, which had lost favor with a growing trend towards legal positivism in the 19th century. Legal positivism rejected the belief that morality was a prerequisite for law.
It is now widely accepted that the most effective way to fight human rights violations is not through repression and condemnation but by engaging in regular educational programmes. This is because many harmful traditional practices, such as female genital mutilation and the death penalty, are supported by families and communities and can only be changed through regular educational efforts. Harmful practices also change and evolve over time, and what was true for an older generation may not be for the next, as is illustrated by the case of a traditional practice in Kenya that is now recognized as harmful to women’s health.