Thomas Aquinas Universal Declaration Of Human Rights

“Ideas about human rights have evolved over many centuries. But they achieved strong international support following the Holocaust and World War II. To protect future generations from a repeat of these horrors, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948 and invited states to sign and ratify it”

The Declaration of Independence was created with human rights in mind. In the Declaration of Independence, they explained why the colonies chose to overthrow their ruler and become independent and be separate nation in the world. Within this document there are four parts. The beginning, also known as the preamble is the most essential part. The preamble justifies the rights of the citizens of America. It reads, “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” When Thomas Jefferson states that “all men are created equal” he means that all citizens are of equal worth and value in the eyes of god. This is basically what human rights are. The "pursuit of happiness" is allowing an

The naturalistic conception of human hights can be traced back to natural rights and natural law theories which were propounded by Thomas Aquinas in his works. These theories influenced the works of 17th and 18th century philosophers like; Grotius, Pufendorf, Locke, Hobbes and Kant. The doctrine of natural law also called moral law was at the centre of Thomas Aquinas’ moral philosophy. Thomas Aquinas’ moral philosophy also influenced Consequentialist, Normative and Teleogical approaches to human

During the Holocaust, over six million Jews were horribly murdered, starved, burned, and ripped of their humanity and rights as a human. Unfortunately it wasn’t until after the Holocaust when the United Nations came up with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that every single human being has their own rights that should never be violated. From having the right to life and liberty, to no torture, and even being equal to the law without discrimination.

Renowned Zimbabwean revolutionary Robert Mugabe states, “Cooperation and respect for each other will advance the course of human rights worldwide. Confrontation, vilification, and double standards will not.” This quote vocalizes what human rights are and the steps necessary for liberty. However, this set of rights are constantly in violation of mankind itself in innumerable instances. The most evident event that violated these rights is the Holocaust in World War II. This Holocaust was the persecution of Jews and people deemed “unfit” by Adolf Hitler, leader of the Nazi Party during the nineteen thirties and forties. Though this catastrophic event caught the attention of the world, this is not the only time in history human rights being in violation. The Japanese effort in World War II to create biological weapons for the war is another example of human rights being taken away by mankind. After this war, the United Nations created a “Universal Declaration of Human Rights”, Article Five stating, “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

St. Thomas Aquinas argues that an “an unjust law is no law at all.” (Aquinas in Dimock, ed., 2002, p.19) However, Aquinas also acknowledges that a human lawgiver may promulgate a command that has the form of law, and is enforced like a law, yet is unjust. This observation leads to the realization that these are two inconsistent claims. Yet Aquinas believes that these inconstancies can be reconciled. In Aquinas’ view an unjust law is not a law but yet is also able to be issued as law and imposed as law.

“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” as Mark Twain is often reputed to have said explains with much rhetoric that in fact history is not repeated in a sense that the same events happen over and over again, instead events embrace similar themes. The same concept of Mr. Twain’s history comparison can be brought in support of why the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) drafted in 1948 by the UN --an international agreement that dictates basic rights and undeniable freedoms in which all human beings are entitled to-- should be updated. After analyzing the Human Rights Treaty it was concluded that amending the UDHR should be considered because of advancements in the world, in main part due to globalization and

Human Rights is one of the most fundamental rights individuals should have in society. As individuals, it’s our natural right to have the right to life. No one should be executed or discriminated because they do not fit in certain characteristics that those that are superior have outlined as fit for society. Many countries suffer from the lack of protecting their citizens’ human rights. For instance, citizens have been executed and discriminated because of their gender, race, and religion affiliations, which is unjust. Individuals have lost their lives because of not having their country making sure their right to life and freedom does not get taking away. For instance, the persecution of the Jews by the Nazi’s, many of them lost their life because of a lack of human right to protect them from being executed without a logic purpose. As a society we can not construct some criteria as to whom can have human rights and those that cannot. Society is not supposing to be built on unjust acts against those in society. As individuals, everyone should be able to live in a more just and humane society. This paper will focus on the human rights and exactly what is human rights. In addition, explore the genocide that happens under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, which resulted in millions of Jews lives being taken away and trying to cause extinction to the European Jewish community. In addition, focus on the aftermath of educating individuals about human rights after the historical

Human rights, for centuries, has been a buzzword, creating an illusion of equality between people, united in their differences, but it is clear from the callous use of torture throughout history that human rights is only inclusive to those whom society favors. Torture is an act of repression, and establishes a direct attack to the core of human autonomy. One human being is degraded to the state of a non-human object, deprived of all empathy and legal personality. Torture has always aimed to devastate human dignity and diminish its victim to the status of a passive tool of the torturer or judicial system, as seen in Europe in the 1700s. But during this time, with the trepid introduction of human rights and the social feelings associated with

Having human rights in place imposes certain obligations on the government and justifies the complaints of those whose rights and freedoms have not been respected. Everyone is entitled to human rights regardless of their nationality, gender, race, religion, or political opinion. The failure to recognize these rights results in conflict and a vicious cycle of violence as more human rights are violated. To avoid such clashes, human rights have become a fundamental part of global law and policy. However, they have not always been that way. Catastrophic events in history that claimed thousands of lives ran their vicious course before it was recognized that there had to be human rights established. The most famous example of genocide is the Holocaust, which killed around six million Jews. After the Holocaust, the United Nations recognized that there had to be human rights put into place. Two human rights from the United Nations’ “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” that were perversely violated during the Holocaust are Article 5 (the protection against inhumane treatment or punishment) and Article 25 (the right to a standard of living.) Light is shed upon the exploitation of human rights during the Holocaust in both Night by Elie Wiesel and The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness by Simon Wiesenthal. The Holocaust was a devastating event that opened our eyes to just how cruel humans can be, and why human rights must be enforced and protected.

That human rights should be available and potentially useful to everyone is an aspiration, not a moral truth. It is the promise of human rights that makes them so appealing, especially to those who have no other recourse.31 One reason I dislike accounts of human rights that are not inclusive—such as the argument from autonomy—is that the mere admissibility of some justified exclusions opens the door to the possibility of others. The exemptions also become ripe for abuse, as with arguments about the limited "rationality" of all of those historically excluded from natural rights arguments. Such accounts undermine the promise, and thus the appeal and the legitimacy, of human

After the prosecution of Nazis in the Nuremburg trials on the basis of “crimes against humanity” and genocide, the abuse of human rights has become a more salient issue in international society (Buchanan 136). However, when situations of human rights

Human rights are a complex notion, that theoretically should be afforded to every human being on the planet. However, despite the notion of human rights for all, widespread human rights violations have still occurred throughout human history. The Holocaust is a specific historical example of how human rights violations can be widespread, and systematic. The Holocaust was the mass genocide of the Jewish community during the second world war (O’Byrne, 2003). However, while the human rights violations that occurred during the Holocaust were heinous and villainous, the international response towards the perpetrators of the Holocaust, also proposed important questions regarding human rights. The specific trial that raised human rights concerns,

The doctrine of human rights were created to protect every single human regardless of race, gender, sex, nationality, sexual orientation and other differences. It is based on human dignity and the belief that no one has the right to take this away from another human being. The doctrine states that every ‘man’ has inalienable rights of equality, but is this true? Are human rights universal? Whether human rights are universal has been debated for decades. There have been individuals and even countries that oppose the idea that human rights are for everybody. This argument shall be investigated in this essay, by: exploring definitions and history on human rights, debating on whether it is universal while providing examples and background

A self-proclaimed liberal country, Lebanon, the supposed Gem of the Middle-East, known for its openness to western culture, still refuses mothers the right to pass their nationality onto their children. The fact that Lebanon, one of the most progressive countries in the Middle East, and the one that most respects women’s rights, is one of the 27 countries in the world that deny women this specific right is astounding and hypocritical. While women in developed countries pass their nationality to their children with no issues what so ever, the women in Lebanon are denied this right which is a clear violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. While some justify this discrimination as a sacrifice made in order to maintain a certain socio-cultural balance, this politically backed discrimination is not only breaching Universally accepted human rights to equality, but also denying children of nationality in some cases as well as contributing to an increasing number of stateless children that must face incredible odds that prevent them from living a normal life. Having said that, it is clear that all mothers should be allowed to pass their nationality onto their children because of the right to nationality.