1760 BCE
In Babylon King Hammurabi set up the ‘Code of Hammurabi’, an early legal document that promises to ‘make justice in the Kingdom and promote the good of the people’.
6th Century BCE
Cyrus the Great, King of the Medes and the Persians, issues the "Charter of Freedom of Mankind." It is considered the first charter of human rights.
509-44 BCE
Rome flourishes under a Republic. Roman values under the Republic emphasize selfless service to the community, individual honor, the necessity of the law, and shared power and decision making. The Roman Republic develops a representative government along with a judicial system. Both the Roman form of government and the Roman form of law become the basis for many later European legal codes still in use today. The Republic ended in 44 BCE when, after civil war, Julius Caesar is named Emperor for life.
528 BCE - 486 BCE
In India, Gautama Buddha advocates morality, reverence for life, non-violence and right conduct.
500 BCE
Confucian teaches respect for other people in China.
262-232 BCE
King Asoka of India issues his Edicts, emphasizing goodness, kindness and generosity.
45-44 BCE
Cicero writes his philosophical works on humanitas, which emphasize goodwill towards humanity.
26 - 33 CE
In Palestine, Jesus Christ preaches morality, tolerance, justice, forgiveness love and equality before god.
27 BCE - 476 CE
Roman Empire develops the concepts of natural law and the rights of citizens .
613 - 632 CE
In Saudi Arabia, Prophet Mohammed teaches the principles of equality, justice and compassion.
1215
Britain's King John is forced by his lords to sign the Magna Carta, acknowledging that free men are entitled to judgment by their peers and that even a King is not above the law.
1583 - 1645
Hugo Grotius, Dutch jurist credited with the birth of international law, speaks of brotherhood of humankind and the need to treat all people fairly.
1679: Habeas Corpus Act
Another crucial step towards the right to a fair trial, this law protected and extended the right of a detained person to go before a judge to determine whether the detention was legal.
1689
In England, Parliament adopts the Bill of Rights that curtails the power of the monarch and includes freedom from torture and from punishment without trial.
1690
John Locke writes about the notions of natural rights of life, liberty and property in his Two Treatises on Government.
1748
Montesquieu writes Spirit of the Laws. To set forth three branches of government: executive, legislative and judicial. Montesquieu argues that despotism can be avoided if political power is divided with checks on power.
1762 CE
Rousseau writes The Social Contract in which he argues that the "general will," reflecting the common interests of all people in a nation, is sacred and absolute.
1776
US Declaration of Independence proclaims that 'all men are created equal' and endowed with certain inalienable rights.
1789
In France the National Assembly adopts the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which guarantees the rights to liberty, equality, property, security, and resistance to oppression.
1791
The United States Congress adopts their Bill of Rights, amending the US Constitution to include rights to trial by jury, freedom of expression, speech, belief and assembly.
1833
The British Parliament abolishes slavery through the Slavery Abolition Act
1919
The Treaty of Versailles signed at Paris Peace Conference with other treaties for civil and political rights.
International Labour Organisation (ILO) is established to advocate for human rights in labor law
The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom is established.
The League of Nations Covenant is signed as part of the Treaty of Versailles "to promote international co-operation and to achieve international peace and security."
1920
The Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution grants women the right to vote.
1926
The Geneva Conference passes a Slavery Convention to end slavery worldwide.
1930
The ILO passes the Convention Concerning Forced or Compulsory Labour "to suppress the use of forced or compulsory labour"
1933-1939
A series of discriminatory laws pass in Germany to exclude Jewish people from employment, education, housing, healthcare, marriages of their choice, pension entitlements, professions such as law and medicine, and public accommodations. In addition, Germany begins murdering physically and mentally disabled people by gas, lethal injection and forced starvation.
1935-1953
Joseph Stalin launches a reign of terror, estimated 20 million Russian citizens were killed or died in the Gulags, a vast majority for crimes they never committed.
1939-1945
During World War II, an estimated 6 million European Jews are exterminated by Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime. Millions of civilians were forced into concentration camps, starved, brutalized and/or murdered.
1941
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill adopt the Atlantic Charter, in which they state their hope is "that all men in all the lands may live out their lives in freedom from want and fear" and that all nations shall enjoy self-determination.
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his State of the Union Address identifies "Four Freedoms" as essential for all people: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want and freedom from fear.
1942
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942, which forcibly moves over 110,000 Japanese Americans from the coastal regions of the western U.S. to isolated inland internment camps. Their detention lasts almost four years.
René Cassin of France urges that an international court be created to punish those guilty of war crimes.
1943
The Magnuson Act passes the U.S. Congress, lifting the prohibitions of citizenship for people of Asian descent.
1944
Representatives from the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union and China meet at Dumbarton Oaks to create the foundation for the United Nations.
1945 up
The United Nations (UN) is established. The Charter of the UN states that one of the primary purposes of the UN is the promotion and encouragement of "respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion."
1948
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the first detailed expression of the basic rights and fundamental freedoms to which all human beings are entitled.
1948
Genocide Convention
adopted by the UN in an effort to prevent atrocities, from happening again.
South Africa begins enacting more rigorous and authoritarian segregation laws that cement the ideology of apartheid into law.
1949
The Australian Parliament passes the Social Services Consolidation Act, policy towards the Aboriginal people.
The ILO adopts the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining.
International Conventions for the Protection of Victims of War (Geneva Convention) approves standards for more humane treatment for prisoners of war, the wounded and civilians.
The Statute of the Council of Europe asserts that human rights and fundamental freedoms are the basis of the emerging European system.
1950-1954
U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy launches his anti-Communist campaign.
1950
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is established.
The UN adopts the European Convention on Human Rights
Convention for the Suppression of Traffic in Persons and Exploitation or Prostitution of Others.
European Convention on Human Rights, to provide basic rights both for their own citizens and for other nationalities within their borders.
The Mattachine Society organizes in Los Angeles to fight discrimination against gays.
1951
Refugee Convention protect the rights of people who are forced to flee their home country.
1952
The U.S. Congress passes the Immigration and Nationality Act, which ends the last racial and ethnic barriers to naturalization of aliens living in the U.S.
The UN adopts the Convention on Political Rights of Women.
1953
The Council of Europe creates the European Commission on Human Rights and the Court of Human Rights.
1954
The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Brown v. Board of Education that racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional.
1955
The Daughters of Bilitis is founded in San Francisco as an organization to work for the acceptance of lesbians as respectable citizens of society.
The U.S. adopts the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.
1957
Great Britain decriminalizes homosexual behavior between two consenting adults but bans gays in the military.
The UN adopts the Convention on Nationality of Married Women.
The ILO adopts the Convention Concerning Abolition of Forced Labour.
The ILO adopts the Convention Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Populations.
1958
The ILO adopts the Convention Concerning Discrimination in Employment and Occupation.
1960
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is established as an advisory body to the Organization of American States.
The Convention Against Discrimination in Education is adopted by the UN (UNESCO).
A upnti-apartheid protest challenging raicial discrimstion laws, 69 protestors are killed by police.,
South African government bans the African National Congress (ANC) and other opposition groups.
Discrimination in Employment Convention, I up inLO prohibits discrimination at work.
1961
President John F. Kennedy appoints Eleanor Roosevelt to head the first Presidential Commission on the Status of Women.
The European Social Charter defines economic and social rights for member states of the Council of Europe.
Peter Benenson founds Amnesty International.
1962
Voting rights are extended to all Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders by the Australian Parliament.
1963
The Organization of African Unity is established, dedicated to African self-determination and the advancement of the African people.
1964
U.S. passes Omnibus Civil Rights Bill, banning discrimination in voting, jobs, public accommodation, and other activities.
Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C.
Martin Luther King, Jr. wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
Nelson Mandela and seven other leaders of the ANC sentenced to life in prison in South Africa.
1965
The U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Immigration Act of 1965, eliminating the ethnic quotas established.
The UN adopts the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
1965
Racial Discrimination Convention Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD)
1966
International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. (ICESCR)999
International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR)
1966-1976
Mao Zedong begins a "purification" of leftist ideas and thousands of Chinese citizens are killed by their own government.
1965
The U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Immigration Act of 1965, eliminating the ethnic quotas established.
The UN adopts the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
1968
The UN adopts the Convention on War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity.
The First World Conference on Human Rights is held in Tehran.
René Cassin wins the Nobel Peace Prize for drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The Organization of American States (OAS) adopts the American Convention on Human Rights.
Homosexuality is decriminalized in Canada.
The UN adopts the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid.
A military coup overthrows Chilean President Allende. General Pinochet, takes power, dissolves the Congress, suspends the constitution, criminalizes opposition political parties, and places strict limits on the media. During his seventeen-year dictatorship, Pinochet presides over the repression, torture, disappearance, and death of thousands of Chilean citizens who opposed his rule.
1975
The UN adopts the Declaration on Rights of Disabled Persons.
Andrei D. Sakharov wins the Nobel Peace Prize for his promotion of human rights in the Soviet Union.
Portugal becomes the last major power to end colonial rule in Africa.
1976
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights takes effect after ratification of enough UN Member states.
1977
A human rights bureau is created within the U.S. Department of State.
Amnesty International wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
U.S. President Jimmy Carter begins to institutionalize human rights agendas into American foreign policy.
1978
The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence is founded in the United States.
Helsinki Watch is established to monitor the Soviet Union's compliance with the Helsinki Accords, now called Human Rights Watch.
The Camp David Peace Accords help negotiations between Egypt and Israel, toward peace between the Israelis and Palestinians.
1979
The UN adopts the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The Organization of American States establishes the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
1980
The U.S. Supreme Court orders the federal government to pay some $120 million dollars to eight tribes of Sioux Indians in reparation for American Indian land that the government seized illegally in 1877.
1981
The African Charter of Human Rights is adopted by the Organization for African Unity (OAU).
The International Labour Organisation adopts the Convention Concerning the Promotion of Collective Bargaining.
1982
The UN adopts the Principles of Medical Ethics.
1983
The Arab Organization for Human Rights is formed.
1984
The UN adopts the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Desmond Tutu wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
1985
The Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights is established by United Nations.
The UN adopts the International Convention against Apartheid in Sports.
The U.S. Senate votes to impose economic sanctions on South Africa against the apartheid policy.
1986
The UN adopts the Declaration on the Right to Development.
1976 CE
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights takes effect after ratification of enough UN Member states.
1977
A human rights bureau is created within the U.S. Department of State.
Amnesty International wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
U.S. President Jimmy Carter begins to institutionalize human rights agendas into American foreign policy.
1978
The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence is founded in the United States.
Helsinki Watch is established to monitor the Soviet Union's compliance with the Helsinki Accords, now called Human Rights Watch.
The Camp David Peace Accords help negotiations between Egypt and Israel, toward peace between the Israelis and Palestinians.
1979
The UN adopts the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The Organization of American States establishes the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
1980
The U.S. Supreme Court orders the federal government to pay some $120 million dollars to eight tribes of Sioux Indians in reparation for American Indian land that the government seized illegally in 1877.
1981
The African Charter of Human Rights is adopted by the Organization for African Unity (OAU).
The International Labour Organisation adopts the Convention Concerning the Promotion of Collective Bargaining.
1982
The UN adopts the Principles of Medical Ethics.
1983
The Arab Organization for Human Rights is formed.
1984
The UN adopts the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Desmond Tutu wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
1985
The Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights is established by United Nations.
The UN adopts the International Convention against Apartheid in Sports.
The U.S. Senate votes to impose economic sanctions on South Africa against the apartheid policy.
1986
The UN adopts the Declaration on the Right to Development.
1988
U.S. Congress ratifies the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
The UN ratifies the Body of Principles for Protection of All Persons Under Any Form of Detention of Imprisonment.
African governments create the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights.
1989
In Tiananmen Square, Chinese authorities massacre student demonstrators struggling for democracy.
The UN adopts both the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights aimed at the abolition of the death penalty.
The Dalai Lama wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
The International Labour Organisation adopts the Convention Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries.
The Berlin Wall is dismantled.
1984
Convention against Torture
(CAT)
1989
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
1989
Indigenous Peoples Convention
protects the rights of Indigenous and tribal peoples around the world.
1990
Convention on Migrant Workers.
1990
UN imposes sanctions on Iraq, the U.S. enters the Gulf War to protect the sovereignty of Kuwait.
The Americans With Disabilities Act is signed into law.
The World Summit for Children of the World adopts the Declaration on the Survival, Protection, and Development of Children.
The UN adopts the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
After 27 years of imprisonment, Nelson Mandela is released
and anti-apartheid ban lifted.
UN imposes sanctions on Iraq, the U.S. enters the Gulf War to protect the sovereignty of Kuwait.
The Americans With Disabilities Act is signed into law.
The World Summit for Children of the World adopts the Declaration on the Survival, Protection, and Development of Children.
The UN adopts the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
After 27 years of imprisonment, Nelson Mandela is released
and anti-apartheid ban lifted.
1991
Aung San Suu Kyi wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
1992
The UN Security Council adopts a resolution to deploy the United Nations Protection Force in the former Yugoslavia.
A UN Security Council resolution condemns "ethnic cleansing" in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The UN adopts the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
The UN adopts the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious, and Linguistic Minorities.
The U.S. Congress ratifies the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Rigoberta Menchu Tum wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
The UN Security Council adopts a resolution to deploy the United Nations Protection Force in the former Yugoslavia.
A UN Security Council resolution condemns "ethnic cleansing" in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The UN adopts the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
The UN adopts the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious, and Linguistic Minorities.
The UN Security Council adopts a resolution to deploy the United Nations Protection Force in the former Yugoslavia.
A UN Security Council resolution condemns "ethnic cleansing" in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
1993
A Criminal Tribunal on the Former Yugoslavia is established in the Hague
to prosecute persons responsible for crimes against humanity and war crimes since 1991.
The Second World Conference on Human Rights Convenes in Vienna, where the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action is adopted.
The United Nations General Assembly creates the post of High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime"
The Second World Conference on Human Rights Convenes in Vienna, where the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action is adopted.
The United Nations General Assembly creates the post of High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The U.S. adopts the policy "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue" which gives the government the right to remove open homosexuals from military service.
1994
The UN declares a Decade for Human Rights Education on.
An emergency session of the Commission on Human Rights convenes to respond to genocide in Rwanda.
The first UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Jose Ayala Lasso, takes his post.
Nelson Mandela is elected as president of South Africa.
1995
The Beijing Declaration at the World Conference on Women declares that "Women's rights are human rights."
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is set up by the South African Government to address human rights violations under apartheid.
Aung San Suu Kyi is released from house arrest in Burma.
1996
Jose Ramos Horta and Bishop Carlos Belo win the Nobel Peace Prize.
President Clinton signs the Defense of Marriage Act, denying the right of marriage to same-sex couples by defining marriage "only as a legal union between one man and one woman."
1997
Mary Robinson, former President of the Republic of Ireland, becomes the second UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
General Pinochet is arrested for murder in London on a warrant from Spain requesting his extradition on allegations of murder, torture and disappearances of Spanish nationals in Chile between 1973 and 1990.
2000
The International Labour Organisation adopts the revised Maternity Protection Convention.
2001
The U.S. ratifies the Patriot Act reducing the rights and freedoms of many Americans.
2003
Massachusetts high court ruled that it would allow same sex marriage and the first gay marriages in the U.S. were performed.
2004
Press reports describe the U.S. torture of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib Prison during and after the 2003 Iraq War.
President George W. Bush reacts to the legalization of gay marriage in Massachusetts by supporting a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as between one man and one woman.
Genocide begins in the Darfur region of the Sudan as the Janjaweed have displaced millions.
2004
Press reports describe the U.S. torture of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib Prison during and after the 2003 Iraq War.
2005
Two years after the invasion of Iraq by Coalition Forces to remove Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi people hold their first free election
2006
Convention on Persons with Disabilities.
2007
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
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