The Fly Home monument at the War and Peace Memorial Park and Theme Hall in Cijin, Kaohsiung. Courtesy of: National Human Rights Commission, Taiwan Introduction: The History of Human Rights Development The United Nations (UN) was founded in 1946 following World War II. Its founding treaty, the Charter of the United Nations, opens by emphasizing that the UN aims “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small”. The second half of the 20th century was a key period in the development of human rights as a “universal value”. The United Nations further adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948, which clearly defined the basic human rights affirmed in the Charter. This catalyzed the speed and scope of the development of human rights protections around the world, even more so than the century and a half of influence and progress driven by the US Constitution (1789, the first codified constitution in the world) and the French Revolution. The concept of human rights gradually developed from a philosophical idea into a constitutional obligation that governments must fulfill and rights protected by law. However, the long roads to reach this point are paved with hardships, blood, and tears. The UK was the first country to develop an uncodified constitution. The Magna Carta of 1215 stipulates that royal authority must be regulated. The Bill of Rights 1689 included the concept of “due process” to protect civil liberties. Britain was also the usher of the industrial revolution and capitalism, which led to human rights ideas and doctrines. The concept of liberalism proposed by British scholar John Locke in the late 17th century was particularly iconic of this era. At the beginning of the 18th century, French schol- 6 ar Montesquieu advocated for “separation of powers” and “checks and balances”. In the middle of the 18th century, French scholar Jean-Jacques Rousseau proposed the concept of “popular sovereignty” and the “social contract” theory. These ideas about human rights and democracy had a huge impact on the United States’ Declaration of Independence and Constitution. Liberalism fostered open thinking and simultaneously prompted the flourishing of industrialization and capitalism. This brought about scientific and technological advancements and social prosperity. However, it also gave rise to evils such as wealth disparity, labor conflicts, and antagonism between social classes. These would go on to become new challenges for human rights. The right to freedom developed in the 18th and 19th centuries inevitably became a tool for the wealthy to cling to power. The exploitation and oppression of workers and the disadvantaged under the pretense of freedom of contract planted the seed of instability and strife in society. Two major schools of thought emerged in order to address the social problems derived from capitalism. The first heavily criticized and even rejected liberalism and capitalism. “Communism” or “socialism”advocated common ownership and a centrally planned economy, aiming to uproot the abuse endorsed by capitalism. Under such system, the government would control production and guarantee equitable distribution of assets. A communist party is a party that seeks to realize the goals of communism. The Bolsheviks in Russia were the first such faction to successfully carry out a communist revolution in 1917. They would then establish the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), or Soviet Union, in 1922. Despite their lofty ideals of social and economic equality, in reality, communist states leave little room for liberalism or democracy and often engage in severe human rights violations. The other school of thought sought to improve on capitalism, an ideology that is often associated with the concept of “welfare state”. It propounds that the condition of the underprivileged must be ameliorated in order to sustain capitalism. The first steps were to recognize the right of workers to form and join organizations of their own choosing and adjust the “sacred” and “inviolable” right of property, which eventually led to the new “social rights” of the 20th century. These include realizing substantive freedom and equality in society. Nations must guarantee their people’s right to life, the right to a minimum livelihood, and the right to dignity, as to avoid social disadvantage and protect the right to education and basic labor rights. These “social rights” first appeared in Germany’s con- stitution, the Constitution of the German Reich or the Weimar Constitution, in 1919, after World War I. Briefly speaking, these two schools of thought shared the ideal and goal of ending wealth inequality and social conflicts, yet the forms of government each proposed as a solution were radically different. The first half of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the UN in 1948 deals with the right to freedom, developed since the 18th century. Articles 22–29 in the latter half put forward social rights, which had been less prominent in the constitutions of modern European and American constitutional states until that time. In addition, the UN further passed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 1966, which can be said to codify international human rights like the right to freedom and social rights. 7