What Are Human Rights?

How Do We Enshrine Them in Society and Protect Them for the Future?

Every so often, a simple question can open a door to something much deeper. One such question, sparked, in my case, by the lyrics from Guns N’ Roses’ “Civil War”—is this context,

What are human rights, really?

Not in legal terms or textbook definitions, but in reality. Are they natural? Are they real? Or are they something we invent to make civilization possible?

The Reality Behind Human Rights

We like to think of human rights as universal and inalienable. The right to life, to speak freely, to live without fear of persecution etc, most of us agree on these, at least in theory. However, if we take a step back and ask where these rights come from, the picture becomes rather more complex.

Philosophically speaking, human rights are not tangible objects, you cannot touch a right, weigh it, or point to it in a lab. They do not exist in nature like mountains or rivers. Instead, they are human constructs, agreements we make as societies to treat each other with a baseline of dignity and fairness because that is how we want others and society to treat us.

That may sound slightly cynical, but it is not. It is deeply pragmatic. Rights are not “less real” because we made them up. After all, society made up money, laws, and nations , and those shape our lives every single day. Rights are best understood as social skeleton,  invisible but essential, like the skeleton in your body,  you (hopefully) never see, but we all rely on constantly from conception to beyond the grave.

A Tool of the Weak, or the Foundation of a Civilisation?

There is a valid argument, echoed throughout history, that rights emerged as a response to injustice, tools developed by the weak to contain and restrain the strong. In the absence of rights, power rules unchecked. The sword, the gun, the bribe, these become the means of control, and history and the news is full of examples of this unchecked power.

Rights are more than a reaction to power; however, they are also the framework that makes complex society possible. Even ancient Rome, an empire not exactly known for mercy, recognised basic legal protections for its citizens. A society without any system of rights is unstable, unsafe, and incapable of long term cooperation or survival.

Rights, then, are not merely noble ideals, they are essential tools for social cohesion.

The Two Faces of Rights –  Negative and Positive

When we talk about rights, we often confuse two very different ideas:

• Negative Rights: Protections from interference, such as freedom of speech, freedom from torture, the right to privacy.
• Positive Rights: Entitlements to certain things, such education, healthcare, housing, fair wages and impartial tribunals.

The United States, for example, is built on a foundation of negative rights, freedom from government interference. Many European nations, by contrast, increasingly recognise positive rights as well, access to the basic conditions necessary for a safe, respected and dignified life.

However, it is not one or the other, both kinds matter. A person who is free from state oppression but starving on the street is not really free. Conversely, a state that promises food and shelter but suppresses dissent is not just.

True rights must balance all flavours of freedom.

Where Modern Societies Fall Short

While nearly every modern nation claims to support human rights, the reality is far more fractured.

• France stands out because its constitution was forged through revolution, literally tearing down a system that denied rights to the majority people and treated them with contempt and indifference to life. The Déclaration des Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen (1789) is not just a document,  it is a war cry against tyranny. Even today, you see that fiery DNA in French politics. People expect rights to be defended, and they’re not afraid to take to the streets when they feel betrayed.
• But even France has blind spots, especially with how it applies “liberté, égalité, fraternité” to immigrants, minorities, and former colonial subjects. Rights are still filtered through cultural assumptions and political convenience.
• Germany arguably has one of the most rights-protective legal frameworks in the world now, but it’s precisely because of the horrors of the Nazi era. The German Basic Law (Grundgesetz) was written to stop another Hitler from rising. They even built in things like the “eternity clause” so that core human rights can’t be amended, ever.
• But Germany is still struggling. The refugee crisis, rising far-right movements, and tensions over free speech vs. hate speech have pushed the system to its limits. Rights are enshrined, yes, but the social consensus around them is fraying.
• The UK The Empire of Exceptions
• The UK is fascinating (and infuriating) because it prides itself on not having a written constitution. Rights in Britain are based on tradition, precedent, and parliamentary sovereignty, which means they’re shockingly vulnerable. The state has often framed rights as privileges, not entitlements. That way, it can revoke or ignore them when it suits the elite or establishment.
• The Magna Carta, Habeas Corpus, the Bill of Rights (1689), they sound noble, but they’ve been honoured more in the breach than the observance. The Human Rights Act (1998), which gave domestic effect to the ECHR, is under constant threat. The British political class seems increasingly allergic to anything that gives the appearance of limiting its own authority. The Left hail it as intractable and the Right hail it as meddling in sovereign affairs. The reality is, like many laws that live in the grey zones, it is abused by many who see that fighting within its framework will give then a nice financial reward. The principles of the Human Rights Act are not wrong, it is how they are implemented that is wrong.
• The United States of America: The Illusion of Universality
• The U.S. is the perfect example of selective universality. The Constitution is full of high-minded ideals, but in practice? Rights in America tend to apply fully only to those who are:
  • White,
  • Wealthy, or
  • Politically powerful.

The rest often find that rights are theoretical. The justice system is heavily racialised. Voting rights are being eroded. Healthcare, education, and even clean water aren’t protected. And if you’re poor in the USA? Good luck enforcing any right, no matter how “inalienable” it sounds.

The whole system is like a contract with fine print: “These rights may not apply to everyone equally. Terms and conditions apply. Void where inconvenient.”

• The Rest of the World: Patchwork and Pretence

In most of the world, rights exist more on paper than in practice. Autocracies hold sham elections and call it democracy. Religious or cultural hierarchies override individual freedoms. Corporations or elites often are the state. Even where rights are written into constitutions, enforcement is often toothless, especially for the poor or marginalized.

How Do We Enshrine Rights into Society?

This is the crux of the issue. It is not enough to declare rights; we must build the mechanisms to protect them. That means.

1. A Written Constitution: Rights must be codified clearly, not left to tradition or precedent. Britain’s unwritten constitution is a case study in how easily rights can be overridden.
2. Independent Institutions: Courts, watchdogs, and ombudsmen must be free from political interference. Rights mean nothing if the institutions that protect them are captured or manipulated by power.
3. Public Education: People cannot defend rights they do not understand. A population unaware of its rights is easy to manipulate or silence.
4. Equal Enforcement: Rights must apply to everyone, equally,  rich or poor, citizen or foreigner, powerful or powerless. Anything less makes a mockery of the concept.
5. Civic Participation: People must be empowered to challenge the state when it fails. That means protest, voting reform, freedom of the press, and legal aid for those who need it.
6. Eternal Vigilance: Rights must be defended constantly. Every generation must re-earn them, or risk watching them erode.

Protecting Rights for the Future

The future will bring new challenges. Digital surveillance, artificial intelligence, bioengineering, and climate displacement will test our understanding of what rights mean in a changing world.

We must be ready to:

• Enshrine digital rights, including privacy, data ownership, and algorithmic transparency.
• Guarantee economic rights, like the right to work, to shelter, to food, especially in an age of automation and inequality.
• Protect environmental rights, the right to clean air, safe water, and a liveable climate.

Above all, we must ensure that rights do not become frozen relics of past struggles, but living tools adapted to new realities.

Rights Are Only Real If We Defend Them

Rights are not mystical gifts from the heavens. They are hard won agreements, sometimes fragile, often incomplete, but absolutely essential.

We do not protect rights by simply having them. We protect them by understanding them, by fighting for them, and by enshrining them in written protections, laws and institutions that cannot be swept aside at the whim of the powerful.

If this political movement stands for anything, let it be this.

We will build a Britain where rights are more than slogans. Where they are protected equally for everyone. Where they are taught, defended, and handed down, stronger, fairer, and more complete, to the next generation.

We will do this not because it’s easy, not because it’s fashionable, not because it is popularism, but because without basic and enshrined rights, we will not have a society worth living in or building for the future.