MODULE 9: A 2,740-Year Timeline of Human Rights History

538 BCE

Persian King, Cyrus the Great, conquers Babylon and declares all slaves in his expanded empire are free, and all people are free to worship their God or Gods as they choose. It is thought that Cyrus himself was a Zoroastrian, a follower of Zoroaster. The basic philosophy of Zoroastrianism is ‘good thoughts; good words; good deeds’.  His declaration is preserved in a clay cylinder with ancient writing known as ‘the Cyrus cylinder’.

Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world’s oldest organised faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It believes in the duality of good and evil and one God and predicts the ultimate conquest of evil by good. Zoroastrians worship an uncreated and benevolent god of wisdom known as Ahura Mazda (‘Lord of Wisdom’) as their supreme being. Historically, the unique features of Zoroastrianism, such as its monotheism, (one God), messianism belief in free will and judgment after death, conception of heaven, hell, angels, and demons, among other concepts, may have influenced other religious and philosophical systems, including the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) and Gnosticism, Northern Buddhism, and Greek philosophy.  Messianism is the belief in the future coming of a messiah who acts as the saviour of a group of people. Messianism originated as a Zoroastrianism religious belief and followed Abrahamic religions, but other religions also have messianism-related concepts.

The idea of human rights spread quickly to India, Greece and eventually Rome. The most important advances since then have included:

1100

The Charter of Liberties, also called the Coronation Charter, or Statutes of the Realm (England), was a written proclamation by Henry I of England, issued upon his accession to the throne. It sought to bind the King to certain laws regarding the treatment of nobles, church officials, and individuals. (The nineteenth-century historians Frederick Maitland and Frederick Pollock considered it a landmark document in English legal history and a forerunner of Magna Carta – Great Charter).

The document addressed abuses of royal power by the previous King (William II, Henry’s brother William Rufus), as perceived by the nobility, specifically the over-taxation of the barons, abuses in appointing bishops, the buying and selling of Church positions, and people holding more than position. The Charter of Liberties was generally ignored by monarchs until in 1213, Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, reminded the nobles that their liberties had been guaranteed over a century prior in Henry I’s Charter of Liberties.

1215

The Magna Carta or Great Charter (England) – gave people new rights and made the king subject to the law.

1628

The Petition of Right (England) – set out the rights of the people. As a precondition to granting any future taxes, in 1628 Parliament forced the King (Charles I) to assent to the Petition of Right. This asked for a settlement of Parliament’s complaints against the King’s non-parliamentary taxation and imprisonments without trial, plus the unlawfulness of martial law and forced billets. (meaning: If members of the armed forces are billeted in a particular place, that place is provided for them to stay in for a period of time. A billet is a house where a member of the armed forces has been billeted.)

1776

The United States Declaration of Independence – proclaimed the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. (The English developed the framework of human rights principles but were not applying them to their colonies.)

1789

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (France) – stated that all citizens are equal under the law. It refers to ‘natural rights’.

1791

Rights of Man by Thomas Paine – the book includes 31 articles and states that popular political revolution is permissible when a government does not safeguard the natural rights of its people.

1948

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations) – the moral backbone of human rights on Planet Earth which lists 30 rights to which everyone is entitled.

2013

Dignity Its Essential Role in Resolving Conflict by Dr Donna Hicks – describes a new model for human dignity with the ten elements of dignity and the ten temptations to violate dignity. Human dignity is the underlying factor in human rights work, more fundamental than ethnicity, language or religion. Peaceful Planet’s Human Dignity Workbook enables students to explore their own human dignity needs and their experience of violations as both victim and perpetrator.