Human Rights Issues in Tourism Development - Tourism and Development: Concepts and Issues - page 383

(UN) to promote global peace and prevent a third world war, non-
governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society groups mounted pres-
sure on world leaders to include human rights in the UN Charter. Article 1(3)
of the UN Charter (1945) requires signatory states to 'co-operate' to ensure
'respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinc-
tion as to race, sex, language, or religion; . . .' (cited in Ghandhi, 2006: 14). In
this document, the term 'human rights' formally entered the vocabulary of
international politics. Though the term 'human rights' is believed to have
initially emerged after the 1789 French Declaration of the Rights of Man and
of the Citizen (van Banning et al. , 2004: 15), the term only became popular
after the formation of the UN in 1945. On 10 December 1948, the UN
adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNUDHR) and since
then, 10 December has always been marked as World Human Rights Day
(van Banning et al. , 2004: 16).
The UNUDHR (1948) is regarded as the 'mother' of all modern human
rights documents. Almost all international human rights conventions, cov-
enants and treaties adopted after 1948 make direct reference to the UNUDHR
in their preambles and it is also the most cited human rights document in the
world. The UNUDHR recognises human rights for all human persons irre-
spective of their race, sex, gender, religion, ethnicity and culture. In 1966,
two other important human rights documents namely: (i) International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and (ii)
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) were adopted
by state parties to the UN. The UNUDHR, ICESCR and ICCPR constitute
the International Bill of Human Rights (van Banning et al. , 2004: 16). Aside
from these three documents, the UN has adopted several human rights docu-
ments that deal with specific subjects and issues (e.g. women's rights, chil-
dren's rights, rights of refugees and rights of migrant workers). Other
documents also seek to address issues such as discrimination, forced labour
and torture and degrading treatment.
What are human rights?
Having considered some of the foundations and origins of human rights,
a definition of human rights is now in order. There is no standard definition
for human rights and major debates in human rights discourse stem from
what constitute human rights in the first place. Notwithstanding these com-
peting claims, various attempts have been made by institutions and indi-
vidual scholars to define human rights. In the preamble to the UNUDHR,
the UN referred to human rights as the 'inherent dignity' of the 'human
family' which constitutes the basis of human freedom (UNUDHR, 1948; see
also Ghandhi, 2006: 21). For Orend (2002: 19), human rights constitute the
'reasons to treat persons in certain respectful ways'. Human rights also
refers to the 'inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently