Introduction to Human Rights

About the Author 
Acknowledgements 

Chapter 1 The Idea of Human Rights
All Humans Are Entitled To
Negative Rights
Positive Rights
Universality
Rights
Human Rights and Social Duties
Changing the World with Human Rights

Chapter 2 Abolishing Torture 
Judicial Torture 
The Case of Jean Calas
Cesare Beccaria 
Autonomy 
Torture in the 21st Century 
Murat Kurnaz 

Chapter 3 Natural Rights 
Declaring Human Rights
Aristotle’s Idea of Natural Law
Aquinas’ Idea of Natural Law
Natural Rights

Chapter 4 Theories of Human Rights
Overview
Natural Law Theory 
Legal Positivism
Kant’s Categorical Imperative 
Utilitarianism 
Deontology and Consequentialism 
Social Contract Theory 
Combining Theories 
Three Models of International Human Rights 

Chapter 5 Equality and the Right to Vote 
All Men Are Created Equal
A Slippery Slope
Women and the Right to Vote
Race and the Right to Vote in the United States

Chapter 6 Racial Discrimination and Human Rights in the United States and South Africa
Chattel Slavery
The Abolitionist Movement in the United States
The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
Japanese American Internment Camps During WWII
Jim Crow Laws
The Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s 
The Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s 
Colonialism and Apartheid in South Africa 
The Anti-apartheid Movement in South Africa 
The International Campaign to End Apartheid

Chapter 7 The Israel/Palestine Conflict and Human Rights
The Creation of Israel in 1948 
The Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967 
Life in Occupied Palestine
Allocation of Water
The PLO, the PA, Fatah, and Hamas
The Apartheid Analogy 
Nonviolent Resistance in Palestine 
The Two-State Solution and the One-State Solution
The Hamas Attack on Israel in 2023 and the War in Gaza

Chapter 8 International Human Rights Law
The Treaty of Westphalia (1648) and the Principle of State Sovereignty
The Armenian Genocide and the League of Nations
The United Nations
The UN Commission on Human Rights (1946–2006) and the UDHR (1948) 
The Genocide Convention (1948)
The Covenants (1966)
Additional Human Rights Treaties 
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
International Criminal Tribunals
The Human Rights Council (HRC) (2006)
Human Rights and International Law

Chapter 9 Human Rights and Anti-Communism in Latin America
Anti-Communism 
Guatemala 
Nicaragua 
El Salvador 
Argentina’s Dirty War 
Chile 
Peru
Venezuela 
American Exceptionalism 

Chapter 10 Genocide and Mass Violence in the 20th Century
The Armenian Genocide 
Russia Under Stalin 
The Holocaust
Cambodia
Guatemala
Rwanda 
Yugoslavia
The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) 

Chapter 11 Human Rights in China and Myanmar/Burma 
China 
Burma/Myanmar 

Chapter 12 The Arab Spring and Human Rights 
Democracy & Human Rights 
Tunisia 
Egypt 
Libya 
Syria
Sudan 
Democracy and Human Rights in the Middle East?

Chapter 13 Violence Against Women 
Recognizing Violence Against Women as a Human Rights Issue 
Global and Systemic Failure to Prevent Rape, to Prosecute the Perpetrators, and to Provide Support to Survivors
We Don’t Want to Die: Domestic Violence in Turkey
Rape as a Tool of War
Bosnia 
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
Syria
The #MeToo Movement in the United States
Violence Against Women and the Idea of Human Rights

Chapter 14 Workers’ Rights as Human Rights
Child Labor
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
Sweatshops
The Right to a Safe Working Environment 
The Right to Reasonable Hours
Bread and Roses: The Right to a Living Wage 
The Right to Equal Pay for Equal Work 
Collective Bargaining 

Chapter 15 LGBTQ+ Rights as Human Rights
When It Is a Crime to Be Gay 
The Right to Be Protected From Violence
Marriage Equality
Equality in Housing, Healthcare, Education, and Employment
The Right to Serve in the Military
Equality Before the Law
LGBTQ+ Rights and International Human Rights Law