Part I Introduction to human rights education KEY POINTS: CHAPTER 1 • Human rights are the basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled. They determine how individual human beings live in society and with each other, as well as their relationship with the State and the obligations that the State has towards them. • While the formalization of common standards and processes for the protection of human rights began in the middle of the 1900s, human rights have existed for as long as humankind has existed. Most of the world’s major philosophies, religions and cultures recognize and promote human rights concepts. • The first international human rights instrument to be adopted was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. This was followed by international treaties on civil and political rights and on economic, social and cultural rights. A number of other treaties that address the human rights of particular groups have also been developed. • States have an obligation to respect, protect, promote and fulfil the human rights of their citizens. USEFUL RESOURCES International Human Rights and the International Human Rights System: A Manual for National Human Rights Institutions; APF; 2012 “What are human rights?”; OHCHR; available at www.ohchr.org/en/issues/ Pages/WhatareHumanRights.aspx United Nations, What Are Human Rights. Available online at www.un.org/en/ sections/issues-depth/human-rights/ Chapter 1: Human rights: An overview | 7