Protection And Promotion Of Human Rights: A Historical Overview

Laski has rightly observed, are those social conditions of life without which no man can seek himself to be at his best. Like rights, human rights are also very essential for the development of his personality. The concept of human rights as it is understood today has evolved gradually over the centuries. Although the concept of ''Human Rights is considered a modern phenomenon, the essence of human rights is as old as human civilization. Human rights seem to have emerged recently but the concept of human rights can be observed by the idea of man, as a gregarious animal, has lived in communities, clans, villages, families, towns, or nations, and presented in independent world members. Kautilya in his masterpiece Arthasastra has defined and described the human rights of war prisoners. Human rights were evolved as civil rights, political rights, personal rights, legal rights, natural or divine rights, economic and social rights in the ancient period. Hence, there is a variety of expression, like 'inherent rights, 'natural rights', 'inalienable rights, 'basic fundamental rights, which are interchangeable terms to express the rights that a human being possess.