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Politics & Government vocabulary · Constitution, Courts and Rights

Human rights

Meaning in politics & government, with examples

nounCore term

In politics & government, human rights means: The basic rights and freedoms that every person has simply because they are human, such as the right to life, liberty, a fair trial and freedom of thought.

In Turkish: insan hakları

How it is used

Used in law, politics and international relations. States protect, respect or violate human rights, and there are human rights organizations, human rights law and human rights courts. A key text is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948.

Example sentences

  1. The course covers the main international agreements on human rights.

  2. Every new law is checked to make sure that it respects human rights.

Common collocations

  • protect human rights
  • human rights law
  • human rights organization
  • respect for human rights
  • fundamental rights
  • freedom of expressionThe right to hold opinions and to share ideas and information through speech, writing, art or the media without unjustified interference by the state.
  • rule of lawThe principle that everyone, including the government and its officials, must obey the law, and that laws are applied fairly by independent courts.
  • constitutionThe basic set of laws and principles that sets out how a state is organized, what powers its institutions have and what rights its citizens enjoy.
  • citizenA person who legally belongs to a country, has the rights it gives, such as voting, and has duties towards it, such as obeying its laws.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Constitution, Courts and Rights

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