Human Rights

Human rights essentially represent an array of norms meant to ensure recognition of human dignity and to guarantee that such dignity is respected. This preoccupation has prevailed throughout history, despite its different forms and degrees of importance. In order to understand how this preoccupation for human dignity was turned into a legal institution, we should take into account the analysis of humanist ideas promoting people’s freedom and equality ever since the dawn of time. To that effect, in order to accurately understand the legal underlying significance of the human rights institution we need to understand the philosophical meaning of these rights, which represent the moral and political essence of all the regulations drafted in this field. Longing for freedom has been a common trait in human history, and there has always been a preoccupation to define man’s place in society, ever since man asserted himself as an intelligent being.