Individual Rights

What Is a Person Entitled to in the 21st Century Simply for Being Human?

Not much, but it doesn’t have to stay this way forever.

If someone owns a dog, they have a moral and legal obligation to care for it.

What about a human being?

In 1948, the UN drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights—full of beautiful ideas, but ultimately just guidelines and recommendations. In reality, nothing happens if these human rights are seriously violated somewhere. Try invoking them in a moderately developed legal system—the best you can hope for is a polite smile.

By 1966, things became more serious, and two legally binding documents were created: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. In a perfect world, all 173 and 171 signatory countries would strictly adhere to these obligations. However, nearly six decades of experience suggest otherwise.

What Happens When a Country Fails to Honor Its Commitments?

The UN prepares a report.

In theory, it can recommend sanctions, but this tool is more of a geopolitical plaything for major powers than an effective method of enforcing human rights.

Let’s take a brief look at what rights this document guarantees in terms of social, healthcare, and educational matters.

Every human being has the right to:

  • An adequate standard of living
  • Proper housing
  • Proper nutrition
  • Clean water
  • Affordable healthcare
  • Free primary education

This is not a complete list—I’ve only highlighted the most important points. We could dissect each one, but that wouldn’t get us far. Surely, I’m not the only one who notices the fundamental gaps here. Some countries, especially in Northern Europe, provide these rights at a relatively high standard, but in most of the world, they have been ignored for so long that people just shrug them off. Bringing them up often leads to being dismissed as naive or idealistic. The situation has to deteriorate to genocide or war crimes before action is taken—and even then, the response is often laughable.

Do You Think Something Should Be Done About This?

This post was originally meant to be about something else, but this is where it ended up. That’s fine, because we’ve taken a closer look at where we currently stand.

  • Are you completely satisfied with the social system where you live?
  • What are your thoughts on poor people, families, and nations?
  • Do you have any ideas on how to address social injustices?
  • Do you think there are enough resources to provide an adequate social system for all eight billion people?
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Thank you 🙏



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