Prolegomena of Human Rights. Historical Roots and Globalization

• Author: Ana-Alina Dumitrache-Ionescu
• Pages: 208-215

European Integration - Realities and Perspectives. Proceedings 2015

208

Prolegomena of Human Rights.

Historical Roots and Globalization

Ana-Alina Dumitrache-Ionescu1

Abstract: The paper Prolegomena of Human Rights. Historical Roots and Globalization analyses the

complexity of the history of human rights which revolve around an incessant struggle for the awareness of the

value of the human being. It is the history which defends the man, the human being, regarded individually or

collectively, who was subjected in the course of time to some atrocities and abuses, confronting itself with

exploitation, discrimination, oppression, slavery, torture and even extermination. Moreover, the historical

evolution of human rights knows halting places in which the concepts of human rights are accompanied by

ambiguity, by different meanings for different people and vary in accordance with the context. By way o f

resemblance, the problem of human ri ghts in the context of globalization which transforms human rights into

rights of the global citizen, rights which acquire ne w dimensions and significances imposed by the economic,

politic and social changes specific of globalization is approached in this paper. The global vision of the new

human rights involves both the opportunity to have a say when they are infringed for example, when they are

subjected to torture or terror, and where human rights abuses are carried out by the people, for example,

trafficking in human beings. (Ritzer, & Dean, 2015, p. 115)

Keywords: human rights; historical roots; Globalization Era

1. General Aspects about the Historical Evolution of Human Rights

With a likeness to laws, rights must not be regarded as unchangeable organizations pertaining to

different legislations or institutions but rather as dynamical and historical institutions modeled and

influenced by economic, political and social processes. (Ibhawoh, 2007, p. 17)

The complexity of the history of human rights revolves around a continuous fight for the awareness of

the value of the human being, a struggle that has lasted for centuries, cultures and different spaces

from Asia all the way up to Europe and from the Middle East all the way up to America and Africa. It

is the history which defends the man, the human being, regarded individually or collectively, a human

being who has been subjected in the course of time to some atrocities and abuses, confronting itself

with the exploitation, discrimination, oppression, slavery, torture and even extermination.

By way of resemblance, the historical evolution of human rights knows halting places in which the

concepts of human rights are accompanied by ambiguity, by different meanings for different people

and they vary in accordance with the context.

1 Senior Lecturer, PhD, Faculty of Law, “Danubius” University of Galati, Romania, Address: 3 Galati Boulevard, 800654

Galati, Romania, Tel.: +40.372.361.102, fax: +40.372.361.290, Corresponding author: alinadumitrache@univ-danubius.ro.