Human Rights Timeline
This timeline contains the dates of some major advances that have been made by the human
race in the area of human rights and human dignity. This history has been a very rocky one.
Many rights were granted throughout the centuries after long and hard struggle, only to be
taken away again during periods of intolerance.
The pledge to work for a better world is rooted in the struggle of different societies and in the
action they took to establish human rights. Many people still regard ancient Greece and
Rome (both slave owning societies) as the sole sources of all the democratic principles that
are valued in the Western world. However other societies, before them and since, have also
made significant contributions to the development of the principle of human rights and to
democratic ideals. Perhaps the earliest expression of the attempt to establish human rights is
to be found in the Code of Hammurabi (Hammurapi) in Babylonia in 1700 BCE. This earliest
recorded Code of Laws contained clauses which sought to protect the individual against the
arbitrary use of power, and the weak from the strong.
In retrospect, it is important to note that many of the landmark declarations listed here did not
always include all human beings. Minority groups such as women, blacks, Jews and gays
have often been excluded from the human rights granted to others. For instance, the US
Declaration of Independence of 1776 did not extend human rights to slaves. The act of
parliament that abolished slavery in Britain and the Empire did not passed until 1833. In the
United States, the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the slaves of the South did not occur
until 1863. Women in Britain did not have the right to vote until the Representation of the
People Act in 1928. In Germany this took place in 1918 and in Austria in 1919. It is also
important to note that major strides towards human rights took place outside of the Western
Hemisphere. For instance, long before women could vote in Europe and the United States
the women of the Iroqouis tribe in North America had voting rights.
We examine here the most positive accomplishments of individuals, cultures, religions and
nations across the time span of the last 2500 years.
5th Century BCE: In the Greek tragedy Antigone, the writer Sophocles elevated individual
human conscience above the law and introduced a new dimension to the
notion of law, touching on the rights of the individual.
4th century BCE: Plato developed the notion of justice and his pupil, Aristotle, the idea of
equity.
3rd century BCE: Meng-Tsu examined the question of whether the individual was less
important than the king. A century later Sien-Tsu said what made society
possible were the rights of the individual.
3rd century:
Senecca affirmed the sanctity of human life
5th century:
Christianity proclaimed that all people were equal in the eyes of the
creator, and St Augustine elevated justice above the law, in the name of
freedom of conscience. The Q’Uran claimed that to be human is to merit
unconditional respect.
1215:
The Magna Carta was the true pre-cursor of all modern human rights
declarations, by guaranteeing the rights and liberties of the individual, the
protection of the rights of the innocent, in granting freedom of movement,
and of natural justice.
Articles 39 and 40 of the Magna Carta state:
Article 39
No free man shall be arrested or imprisoned or dispossessed or outlawed or
exiled or in any way victimized, neither will we attack him or send any one to
attack him, except by the lawful judgement of his peers or judgement of the law of
the land
Article 40
To no one will we sell, to no one will we refuse or delay right or justice.
Appr. 1600:
Five separate Iroquois tribes (who call themselves the Haudenosaunee)
decided to band together in order to better protect themselves and to end
the bloodshed between them. They entered into a peace treaty and
created a Confederacy. These tribes were the Mohawk, Onondaga,
Cayuga, Seneca and the Oneidas (the Tuscarora later joined this nation).
This treaty led to what is considered to be one of the world's first
democracies. Each tribe had one vote in the decision-making process.
Their form of government served as one of the models for the present day
system of US government.
1689:
The Bill of Rights in England was the basis of the English constitution and
represented victory over absolutism of the Stuart monarchs and
established the rights of parliament and of the citizens. It also achieved
some power sharing between the monarch and property owners in
England. French philosophers such as Jean Jacques Rousseau assumed
that there was an agreement between the governed and those who ruled
them. This contract sets out the rights and duties of each.
1762:
The French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712- 1778_ writes the
political treatise Du Contrat Social . He believes that both those who rule
and those who are ruled have rights and duties.
1776:
The U.S. Declaration of Independence proclaimed that "all men are
created equal". It is declared that there are certain inalienable rights,
among which are life and liberty. Governments are seen as being
instituted to guarantee those rights and to ensure the well being of their
peoples, as well as ruling with the consent of the people. In the 18th
century, the philosophers of the enlightenment reinforced these ideas, in
trying to found societies based on democratic principles, which
guaranteed equality, before the law, to their citizens. They also introduced
the concept of an independent judiciary. All these principles were
developed in the interests of allowing people to develop their full potential.
1787:
The US Constitution contains a variety of rights that include:
 the right to freedom of speech
 the right to a fair trial
Not everybody has equal rights yet. Only white male property owners can
vote.
1789:
At Versailles in France1789 a national constitution was established. This
was the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. It defined
natural rights that are inalienable and sacrosanct, the most precious of
these being liberty, for example:
Article 1) Human beings are born free, equal and have rights
Article 2 )The duty of all political associations was to preserve the natural
rights of people, the rights of liberty and property, security and the right to
resist oppression The emphasis was on political and civil rights.
Article 3) Nobody can exercise power with the permission of the people
France and the United States are the first countries to establish human
rights provisions. Many countries follow suit shortly thereafter. More and
more human rights are embedded into national constitutions.
Most human rights provisions in the 18th century are created to protect
individuals against the power of the state. These are called political
human rights.
1790:
Thomas Paine writes the manuscript the Rights of Man, based on the
democratic ideals of the French Revolution. Also at this time, Edmund
Burke writes that all human suffering can be explained by disrespect for
human rights.
1791:
The U.S. Bill of Rights incorporated the ideas of freedom of speech, press
and a fair trial. The Bill of Rights was added to the new U.S. Constitution.
Thomas Paine wrote The Rights of Man, based on democratic principles
and the ideas of the French Revolution. Edmund Burke stated that
ignorance, neglect and contempt for human rights were the sole causes of
human misery.
1791:
France grants citizenship to the Jews. The Jews of the Netherlands
receive citizenship shortly thereafter, in 1796. Citizenship for Jews in
other countries follows: Prussia in 1812; Denmark in 1814; Greece in
1830; Belgium in 1831; Hungary in 1867; Sweden in 1870; Switzerland in
1874.
1815:
The nations that defeated Napoleon meet in Vienna. Though the
assembled leaders do not embrace the ideals of the French revolution,
they do issue overt statements against slavery for the first time.
1833:
Great Britain passes the Abolition Act, ending slavery throughout the
British Empire.
1848:
Populations across Europe struggle for more “freedom and democracy”,
resulting in liberal revolutions in places such as France, Austria and
Prussia.
1863:
U.S. President Abraham Lincoln frees all slaves in the United States with
his Emancipation Proclamation.
1866:
Children under the age of ten are longer allowed to work in factories in
Massachusetts
1885:
The Berlin Conference on Africa passes an antislavery act. However, at
the same conference the Western powers carve up Africa into colonies.
1890:
The Brussels Conference passes an antislavery act
1893:
Women are given the right to vote in New Zealand. This is the first time
that women are given the right to vote in a "Western Democracy". Also in
this year, Matilda Josyln Gage, an American woman famous for fighting
for women's rights, decided to become an Iroquois (native American
tribe). She was arrested in the United States in the same year for voting in
a school board election. As an Iroquois she had full voting rights.
1902:
Women are given the right to vote in federal elections in Australia.
1907:
Norway is the first country in Europe to give women the right to vote.
1917:
A Bolshevik revolution takes place in Russia. Inspired by the ideas of
Marx and Lenin, an attempt is made to build a new society on the basis of
equality. Social-economic rights are given priority above individual rights.
1919:
After the First World War (then claimed to be "the war to end all wars") the
Treaty of Versailles is signed. For the first time the international
community considers holding heads of state accountable for human rights
violations. Other treaties at Versailles stress minority rights.
1920:
League of Nations is founded. The goal of the League of Nations is to
prevent war through dialogue. This new institution fails when important
nations (such as the United States) decide not to join. The League of
Nations is officially disbanded in 1946.
1945:
Creation of the United Nations. The task of the UN is to maintain world
peace and security and the promotion of economic, social, cultural and
humanitarian cooperation. More than 185 nations have joined the United
Nations.
1946:
Nuremberg trials take place in Nuremberg, Germany to prosecute Nazi
war criminals. The following charges are brought against the defendants:
(1) crimes against peace; (2) war crimes; (3) crimes against humanity;
and (4) conspiracy to commit any of the aforementioned crimes.
1947:
India becomes independent. Mahatma Gandhi plays an important role in
this process through his campaign of non-violent resistance.
1948:
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is signed. Following the
Holocaust of the Jews, the genocide of the Gypsies and other acts of
barbarism by the Nazis in the Second World War, the conscience of
humankind was moved so profoundly that the United Nations Assembly
adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Right to Selfdetermination of the Colonial Peoples. They laid down the principles of
moral, social and political faith, which place all the people of the world in
the human family. Added to this is the hope of a universal order, in which
the rights and duties of all were clearly stated.
Brief Summary of Provisions:
General principles of liberty and equality
Personal Rights and liberty
Fundamental, Intellectual and spiritual liberty, political rights
Articles 1-2
Articles 3-11
Articles 12-17
Economic, social and cultural rights
Link between individual and social rights
Articles 18-27
Articles 28-30
1949:
Geneva Convention sets standards for more humane treatment of
prisoners of war, those who are wounded and civilians.
1961:
Amnesty International is established in Great Britain. This organization
campaigns for human rights around the globe, especially for political
rights.
1963:
One hundred years after Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation,
Martin Luther King holds his famous civil rights speech in Washington
D.C.
1964:
The Civil Rights Act is passed in the United States. A year later the Voting
Rights Act is passed. For the first time, Black Americans are now equal
before the law.
1965:
U.N. International Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Racial
Discrimination is adopted.
1981:
Signing of the African Charter on the Rights of Man and of the People
1989:
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is passed. Examples of
rights include:
 All children have the right to be protected against child labor
 All children have a right to their own opinion and the right to be
listened to
 No child under the age of 18 shall be sentence to death or to life
imprisonment.
The only members of the UN not to ratify this treaty have been Somalia
and the United States. A total of 191 countries have ratified.
1990:
UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and
Members of their families is adopted.
1994:
The UN Decade for Human Rights is declared.
1994:
After years of imprisonment under Apartheid laws, Nelson Mandela
becomes President of South Africa.
1998:
A treaty is signed in Rome to establish the International Court of Justice
2002:
The International Criminal Court is established in the Hague, the
Netherlands. This UN court creates a permanent institution to try War
Crimes, replacing the ad-hoc courts for Rwanda and the former
Yugoslavia.