Fionúir: Rules and rights, ... where ... why ... ?

When, Where, How, What, Why ... ?????

Some historians  (people who study history) say that Achaemenid Persian Empire of ancient Iran (Southwest Asia) came up with some relishing rules in the 6^th century BC (before Christ)!

After winning Babylon (close to Baghdad in Iraq) in 539 BC, King Cyrus wrote the Cyrus Cylinder (ancient Persian clay cylinder)!

This is said to be the first human rights document ...! It is now in the British Museum, London and a copy of this object is to be found in the United Nations Headquarters, New York. Mr Shillitoe, maybe we can check this out online, please? It might be interesting to do in class!

The question is how have human rights developed.

Many people believe that rights are a result of natural law, for instance religious views. Whereas others are of the opinion that rights have developed over the centuries, for instance evolution.

What are human rights?

Human rights are a type of rule setting. Writing down rules and obey them.

We all accept rules from authorities. Sometimes we do not have a choice! We do this for many reasons, good and bad!

—          For safety (protect families, friends, colleagues :=))

—          For money (salary, bonuses, bribes ;=( )

—          For an easy life (hear nothing, see nothing, say nothing …

             (The Three Monkeys) ;=(

A good example would be rules of the road as it saves many lives. If we didn’t have them, thousands of people would die!

A negative example would be a regime (The French word for rules). There are many nasty regimes all over the world, for example Gaddafi in Libya (North Africa). If people don’t agree with the regime, then they might be sent to prison, tortured and even killed. This is taking away the freedom of speech, which is an important right.

There are also “soft regimes”! There are many examples in our every day lives, e.g. employees might not say what they think because if they do, they are afraid that the boss might fire them! This is a type of control and it keeps the wrong people in power usually for very bad reasons.

Thank you for reading.

Cheers Fionúir