İNSAN HAKLARI - Deneme Sınavı - 8

Four major revolutionary documents of the eighteenth century, i.e. Virginia Declaration of Human Rights (1776), US Declaration of Independence (1776), the US Bill of Rights (1791), and the French Declaration des Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen (I789) have been addressed generally as milestones in the history of human rights and its cradle of modernity.

The correct answer is E.

The American Bills of Rights (1791) do not attempt merely to set forth certain principles for the state’s organization, but they seek above all to draw the boundary line between state and individual. According to them the individual is not the possessor of rights through the state, but by his own nature he has inalienable and indefeasible rights.

The correct answer is A.

But before the United States Declaration of Independence, we should mention the Virginia Declaration of Rights published just a month before it, in the year 1776. Especially the first article of this declaration might have been the cradle of thought behind all human rights documents: “That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.” (Virginia Declaration of Rights, 1776) This article triggered not only the United States Declaration of Independence, but also all other modern human rights legal writings. That is the reason of its being considered as the first human rights document in the modern sense, because of its talking about equal rights of every human being, not only from rights of some people as barons.

The correct answer is C.

On the 26th of August in 1789, the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens was announced in the National Assembly. This declaration has been a turning point not only for human rights, but also for all successor governments. The articles of this Declaration of rights paved the way for, and are also harmonic with modern human rights theories. What makes this declaration unique was its emphasis on the term “common good” instead of natural law. The term “common good” has begun to be a basis for human rights and for justifying human rights, and it has lasted till today. 

The correct answer is D.

Like the United States Declaration of Independence, French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens also started with the emphasis on the equal rights at birth: “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be based only on considerations of the common good.” (French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens, 1789)

Freedom of speech was another important issue that stressed by French Declaration. “The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law” (French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens, 1789). 

What conducted the French people to the rebellion was the poor life of the French people and the unequal taxation. Therefore, the articles related to the taxation and the inviolability of domicile constituted another part of this declaration.

Even though it is not directly related to human rights, the principle of separation of powers was also articulated in it; and by Article 16 constitutional law was transmogrified so far. Thereafter constitutional law has been the core legislative instrument in protecting human rights of all people. Article 16 stressed the same concerns and paved the way to legislate a consensus based constitution. “A society in which the observance of the law is not assured, nor the separation of powers defined, has no constitution at all.” (French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens, 1789)

The correct answer is E.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 10th December 1948, and this day is declared as Human Rights Day and is celebrated annually across the world on 10 December every year.

The correct answer is C.

First two articles of the declaration stressed the equality of every single human being from birth on. We see also some expressions about equality in the previous human rights documents, but Article 5 differs from them for laying emphasis on the ban of torture or cruel, inhuman treatment to protect human dignity “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 5)

With the Article 13 there are several other clauses related to freedom of speech, free will on marriage, religious freedom, property rights and benefiting from the public services. 

Right to education and its regulations are mentioned in Article 26. Strengthening the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and admitting of the human personality for his/her full development are emphasised as the main goals of an education. 

The correct answer is E.

The UN system includes more than above mentioned conventions related to the protection of human rights. Others are below.

• Convention Related to the Status of Refugees (1951)

• Convention on the Political Rights of Women (1953)

• International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of Crime of Apartheid (1973)

• Declaration on the Protection from Torture (1975)

• Convention Against Torture, and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1984)

• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979)

• Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief (1981)

• International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Their Families (1990).

The correct answer is E.

The idea of human rights did not appear until 1789. After the French Revolution, the idea of human rights first emerged in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in 1789. “The idea of ‘rights’ – specifically, ‘human rights’ – is of fairly recent vintage.

Heraclitus apprehends that justice and injustice were man-made, and that God does not care about either.

In philosophy, the happiness of an individual is the subject of ethics, but the happiness of a society is the subject of politics.

Plato was a follower of Socrates. He stated his political views, namely, his understanding of the justice (dikaiosyne) and the state, in his famous work called Republic. The question of justice or the concept of justice is at the center of his philosophy, especially in his Republic.

The Sophists had distinguished between nature and customs, but Plato made a
distinction between the physical and the intelligible world. According to the Sophists
nature is perfect, immutable and eternal, whereas according to Plato ideal beings are perfect, immutable and eternal.

For Cicero, the law of reason is the only criterion for justice because it is
the divine law of nature and it binds all people and all ages.

Only option A is an opinion of Hobbes .The other ones are opinions of Locke

In addition to Hobbes’ and Locke’s fundamental innate rights, such as life, freedom and property, Rousseau also expresses social and economic rights in his theory of social contract.

The principle of innate freedom involves the innate equality, that is, independence from being bound by others. “Thus, the civil condition, regarded merely as a rightful
condition, is based a priori on the following principles:” (Kant, 1996, 291).
1. The freedom of every member of a society as a human being.
2. His equality with every other as a subject.
3. The independence of every member of a commonwealth as a citizen.

Given opinion is Bentham's opinion and for Bentham, natural rights are not properly rights because no right can be prior to government.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, accepted in 1948, has been the prime source for the following documents of human rights. It has been foremost the most common compromise after the both political and ideological conflicts lasting through the centuries.

Even though we consider the Magna Carta Libertatum as the first example of the human rights documents, it is also important to search the previous documents that could be seen as human rights documents. There are several documents on human rights which were declared before the Magna Carta Libertatum. One – probably the most important one of them – was the Code of Hammurabi which had been declared about 1750s BC by the emperor of Babylonian Kingdom, Hammurabi. There is still an intense debate about whether this code should be called a human rights document or it is just an example of a criminal justice article. Since this code is composed of 282 articles, many varied postulates were mentioned in this subjected code.