The Ten Commandments as expressed in the Old Testament are often considered to be one of the most important texts of what may be called "the prehistory of human rights". The Hammurabi Code, the founding text of the first Babylonian Empire is an even older document. This text, dated around 1730 B. C., is a compilation of 282 articles that set out the rules of tribunals, and family and trade rights.

These texts as well as the Greek and Roman codes are important, but their only objective was to establish operating rules for human societies. They were not intended to protect individual human beings. The movement towards individual freedoms first took place in England. It continued with the American Revolution, and peaked during the French Revolution with the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789. This development ultimately led to rebellion against absolute monarchies.

In 1387, Geneva had become an important centre for the development of human rights. The prince-bishop Adhémar Fabri ratified the arrangements, customs, franchises and freedoms of the citizens, and imposed it on himself and his successors to respect them ever after. Among other rights, the "Franchises de Genève" recognised the right of citizens to neither be taxed directly (the French "taille"), nor to be required to perform unpaid duty for the city. It also excluded arbitrary detention and guaranteed the security of people, including foreigners, and their belongings.

The Edict of Nantes was signed two centuries later on the April 13 1598. It represents another step in the long history of the attainment of individual and collective freedoms. The promulgation of this Edict has become a universal intellectual reference.

The principal purpose of this Edict, which is unique in Europe, was to achieve peaceful coexistence between the two main religions in France. It gave both Catholics and Protestants the same rights inside a Catholic State. Many concessions were given to the Protestants so that they could enjoy freedom of belief and of religion: an amnesty reinstated their civil rights, they were given the right to work in any field, to bring grievances to the king, and were granted one hundred places of safety.

[The original act, signed on April 30 1598, has been lost. The text preserved in the National Records of Paris is a shorter document modified by the clergy and the Parliament of Paris, and sealed in 1599. The content of the first edict is known, thanks to a copy kept in Geneva.]

 THE ORIGIN OF THE RIGHTS IN ENGLAND

The Magna Carta Libertatum / 1215

At the beginning of the 13th century, the English nobility rebelled against the monarchy. Due to increasing abuse, the rebel barons emigrated to France and wrote the Magna Carta Libertatum, also called The Bill of English Freedoms, in the Cistercian Abbey of Pontigny. On the June 12 1215, the feudal Lords imposed on their suzerain, John Without Land, a long text composed of 63 articles, written in Latin and considered to be the first constitutional document in England, and the foundation of English freedoms.

The Magna Carta enumerates the privileges granted to the English Church, the City of London, merchants and feudal dignitaries. It also gives precise guarantees regarding individual freedoms: "No free man shall be arbitrarily arrested or jailed without a fair trial by his peers or in accordance with the country's laws".

The Magna Carta is the first text established to oppose the Crown's arbitrary rule. In that text, concrete protection measures are enumerated to guarantee individual freedoms. During the reign of Edward I, the Magna Carta was expanded, and it was completed on November 5 1297.

The Petition of Rights / 1628

After the failure of the siege of La Rochelle, in 1627, Charles I of England, who was fighting against France and Spain, was driven to ask the Parliament for funds. Before submitting the king's request to the vote, the Members of both chambers of the Parliament imposed on him the Petition of Rights. Written in English, its 11 articles guaranteed certain principles of political freedom, addressing in particular the respect of the rights of the Parliament, and peoples' security.

Among those principles were: the impossibility for the king to collect taxes without the Parliament's agreement, the right of a defendant during a proper legal procedure, and the respect of the freedoms and rights recognised by the laws and statutes of the kingdom. The King accepted the Petition, which was implemented over the following two years. But as soon as the war ended, Charles I had no further need of the Parliament and reigned as an absolute monarch until his death in 1649.

The Habeas Corpus / 1679

The procedure of Habeas Corpus, instituted in England, guaranteed individual freedom from arbitrary arrest and punishment. The 1679 Act was written by the members of the Parliament, during the reign of Charles II, in order to protect themselves against the common practices of the time. The text denounced abuses and put into effect precise rules regarding the rights of defendants and prisoners.

Habeas Corpus, which means literally "you may have the body", is a procedure that allows the judge to order that the defendant be brought before him within three days, in order to decide whether detention is legal or not. Precise rules determine the form of the writ. The whole procedure is intended to protect the prisoner, to avoid arbitrary transfers and to guarantee damages whenever his rights have been violated. It also provides fines and sanctions for those who violate the procedure.

The Bill of Rights / 1689

The Bill of Rights, imposed by the Parliament on the Queen-to-be Mary Stuart II (daughter of Jacques II and spouse of William of Orange), brought the English Revolution of 1688 to a conclusion, putting an end to royal absolutism. For the first time a real contract was established between the sovereign and the people, who were also considered sovereign. Mary and William were prevented from being crowned until they signed it.

The Bill of Rights reminds us that Jacques II had violated the laws and freedoms on several occasions. It also enumerates the rights that had been recognised as belonging to the people since 1215. The First Article enunciates a fundamental principle: the royal authority no longer has the force of law, in other words the law is above the king. The other articles only develop that principle. The people have the right to petition, the right to vote freely, they have judicial guarantees and their individual freedoms are protected. Soon after this, the freedom of religion was granted to the Protestants.

 THE AMERICAN DECREES

These changes in British law had no effect on their colonial policy. In 1775, 13 North-American English colonies rebelled. The War of Independence, supported by France, lasted until 1783. But even in 1776 the former colonies began to promulgate declarations to claim their rights, eventually bringing about the United States of America.

The Virginia Bill of Rights / June 1776

The Virginia Bill of Rights was the first of the written decrees. It accompanied the Constitution of the State of Virginia, and was adopted on June 11 1776. It inspired Thomas Jefferson when he wrote the first part of the Declaration of Independence. It also inspired the first ten amendments of the American Constitution.

The 18 articles of the Virginia Bill of Rights enumerate rights which are close to the modern notion of human rights: equality between all men, separation of legislative and executive powers, power to the people and their representatives, freedom of the press, subordination of military power to civil power, the right to justice, and freedom of religion. The rights of the person are considered to be natural rights which cannot be reduced by any kind of regime, and many rights are inalienable.

The text, translated into French, had a major influence on the French Revolution, on the committee responsible for the constitution and on the elaboration of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789).

The American Declaration of Independence / July 1776

The Declaration of Independence, drafted by Thomas Jefferson, was adopted on July 4 1776 in Philadelphia. It "holds these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, that to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men". The Articles of Confederation brought the free colonies together to "assist each other, against all force offered to, or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretence whatever" (art. 3). The principle of the right to resist against all oppressors became the justification for the struggle of dominated and colonised peoples in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Most of the former colonies revised their constitutions and eight of them included bills of rights in their new constitution (1776-1783). All refer to the right to individual freedom established in England by the Magna Carta, and all add to the rights of property, reunion and expression the right to freedom of religion.

The 1787 Bill stated the individual rights, and was later completed by ten amendments adopted in December 1791. The complete text became the Bill of Rights.

 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND THE FRENCH REPUBLIC 

After the storming of the Bastille (July 14 1789) and the capitulation of king Louis XVI, the Constituent Assembly, created by representatives of the Third Estate, deputies of the nobility and the clergy, voted on August 4 to abolish the system of privileges. This vote marks the end of feudalism in France. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen is the fundamental historical text in the field of human rights.

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen / 1789

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, called for by the deputy Jean-Josèphe Mounier and by one of the heroes of the American War of Independence, Lafayette, was written by Abbot Sieyès and adopted in August 1789 by the National Constituent Assembly. It included 17 articles, but was considered incomplete by the voters, and was never finished.

The first article begins, "All men are born free and equal and remain free and equal in their rights", sentence that was taken up again in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. Michelet's "Credo of a New Age" put forward the fundamental principles of the political order which are national sovereignty (art. 3), representative government (art. 3), the primacy of law (9 articles), and the separation of powers (art. 16). It gave people rights that are still current. The right to resist against oppression (art. 2), presumption of innocence (art. 9), freedom of opinion and religion (art. 10), freedom of expression (art. 11) and the right to own property (art. 17).

In 1791, Olympe de Gouges, a woman of letters, had drafted a Declaration of the Rights of Women that took up every article of the Declaration of 1789 which she thought was sexist. She was guillotined and the text was never adopted.

The Declaration of Man and the Citizen of the Year I / 1793

The deposition of the king and the proclamation of the Republic revoked the 1791 Constitution. A new Declaration of Man and the Citizen, which was the principal text of the New Constitution, was voted by the Convention on June 23 1793.

The 35 articles adopted the same principles as the 1789 Declaration, insisting on natural and inalienable rights. The new Declaration also focused on solidarity and co-operation and a number of new rights were added: right of assistance (art. 21), right to work (art. 17 and 21), right of instruction (art. 22), right of insurrection (art. 35). Article 18 states that every man can commit his time and service, but cannot sell himself or be sold. This is the first article in history implying that slavery is unacceptable. Nevertheless it would not be until 1848 that slavery was clearly made illegal.

The Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man and the Citizen / 1795

This Declaration is more restrictive than the two previous declarations, and it replaces them in the New Constitution instituted after Robespierre 's fall. It aimed at the restoration of a balance between the rights and the duties of the person, following the excesses of the Terror.

The Constitution of the Second Republic and the prohibition of slavery / 1848

After the revolution of February 1848, the provisional government wrote a new Constitution. This text established universal suffrage, abolished death penalty for political crimes, reduced the work week, granted new social rights, guaranteed the freedom of education and the freedom to work, granted the right of association and the right to petition, and prohibited slavery in all the French territories, including the colonies.

Slavery was the rule in all colonies and the United States of America. Despite the influence of many deputies (Lafayette, Mirabeau and Condorcet), the Black Code enacted by Colbert in 1687 during the reign of Louis XIV still regulated slavery in the French colonies. In 1789, the Constituent Assembly, under pressure from deputies of the Antilles, refused to abrogate it. The slave trade was finally prohibited in 1793, but it wasn't until the Mountain Convention of 1794 that slavery was abolished. Abolition followed the uprising of Santo Domingo led by Toussaint Louverture, who gave the name Haiti to this former French colony, an independent State ever since. However, in 1802, the First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte, who was married to Josephine, a Creole, restored slavery.

In 1848, thanks to Victor Schoelcher, the chairman of a commission in charge of preparing a text on the abolition of slavery, the final and definitive statement was put into effect. Schoelcher, a member of the government and a deputy of the Antilles, was exiled during the Second Empire because he had opposed the coup d'Etat of 1851. He was elected deputy of Martinique in 1871, after Napoleon III's abdication, and became senator for life. He died in 1893.

 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY AND THE INTERNATIONAL BILL OF HUMAN RIGHTS

After the tragedy of the Second World War, a number of declarations were drafted all over the world. In Latin America for instance there was the Constitution of the United States of Mexico (1917), in Russia the Declaration of the Rights of the Working and Exploited People (1918), and in Germany the Weimar Constitution (1919). The Human Rights movement became truly international with the Declaration on the Rights of the Child, adopted in Geneva by the League of Nations in 1924. The Second World War accelerated this process. The "Atlantic Charter", which was the result of a meeting between Churchill and Roosevelt in 1942, was followed by the Charter of the United Nations. Twenty-six countries declared themselves united to fight the Axis powers and promised to remain united after the end of the conflict in order to create an international organisation that would achieve peace in the world.

The Charter of the United Nations was adopted on June 26 1945. It marked the creation of the United Nations and heralded the international pre-eminence of human rights, recognised as the condition for seeking peace in the world. The founding constitution of UNESCO (United Nations for Education, Science and Culture Organisation) was also adopted in 1945. And the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10 1948, in Paris.