Achieving the Rights Outcome2
What are Human Rights?
Human rights are inherent to all of us as human beings, regardless of who we are, where we live or any other characteristic. They are intended to provide an interrelated safety net of protections that ensure we can reach are able to reach our potential and be treated fairly by our Government. The human rights protected in the ACT Human Rights Act are drawn from internationally agreed documents about what rights must be protected by Governments.
The foundations and roots of human rights are philosophy, religion, history of conflicts, social movements, etc.
The trunk is the establishment of the modern human rights movement, particularly the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 by the United Nations.
Those initial principles were divided into two main limbs of individual civil and political rights and collective economic, social and cultural rights.
The final step is the fruit of the tree, when local Governments adopt these international obligations into law. The most relevant being the ACT Human Rights Act 2004.
Adapted from the British Institute of Human Rights’ publication ‘A Voluntary and Community Sector Guide to Using Human Rights’