| Struggles and historical events | Conferences, documents and declarations | Institutions |
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| THROUGH THE 17TH CENTURY |
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- Many religious texts emphasize the importance of equality, dignity and responsibility to help others
- Over 3,000 years ago Hindu Vedas, Agamas and Upanishads; Judaic text the Torah
- 2,500 years ago Buddhist Tripitaka and A guttara-Nikaya and Confucianist Analects, Doctrine of the Mean and Great Learning
- 2,000 years ago Christian New Testament, and 600 years later, Islamic Qur'an
| - Codes of conduct-Menes, Asoka, Hammurabi, Draco, Cyrus, Moses, Solo and Manu
- 1215 Magna Carta signed, acknowledging that even a sovereign is not above the law
- 1625 Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius credited with birth of international law
- 1690 John Locke develops idea of natural rights in Second Treatise of Government
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18TH-19TH CENTURIES |
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- 1789 The French Revolution and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
- 1815 Slave revolts in Latin America and in France
- 1830s Movements for social and economic rights - Ramakrishna in India, religious movements in the West
- 1840 In Ireland the Chartist Movement demands universal suffrage and rights for workers and poor people
- 1847 Liberian Revolution
- 1861 Liberation from serfdom in Russia
| - 1792 Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
- 1860s In Iran Mirza Fath Ali Akhundzade and in China Tan Sitong argue for gender equality
- 1860s Rosa Guerra's periodical La Camelia champions equality for women throughout Latin America
- 1860s In Japan Toshiko Kishida publishes an essay, I Tell You, My Fellow Sisters
- 1860-80 More than 50 bilateral treaties on abolition of the slave trade, in all regions
| - 1809 Ombudsman institution established in Sweden
- 1815 Committee on the International Slave Trade Issue, at the Congress of Vienna
- 1839 Antislavery Society in Britain, followed in 1860s by Confederacao Abolicionista in Brazil
- 1863 International Committee of the Red Cross
- 1864 International Working Men's Association
- 1898 League of Human Rights, an NGO, in response to the Dreyfus Affair
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THE 20TH CENTURY 1900-29 |
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- 1900-15 Colonized peoples rise up against imperialism in Asia and Africa
- 1905 Workers movements in Europe, India and the US; in Moscow 300,000 workers demonstrate
- 1910 Peasants mobilize for land rights in Mexico
- 1914-18 First World War
- 1914 onward Independence movements and riots in Europe, Africa and Asia
- 1915 Massacres of Armenians by the Turks
- 1917 Russian Revolution
- 1919 Widespread protests against the exclusion of racial equality from the Covenant of the League of Nations
- 1920s Campaigns for women's rights to contraceptive in formation by Ellen Key, Margaret Sanger, Shizue Ishimoto
- 1920s General strikes and armed conflict between workers and owners in industrialized world
| - 1900 First Pan-African Congress in London
- 1906 International convention prohibitinng night work for women in industrial employment
- 1907 Central American Peace Conference provides for aliens' right to appeal to courts where they reside
- 1916 Self-determination addressed in Lenin's Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism
- 1918 Self-determination addressed in Wilson's
Fourteen Points - 1919 Versailles Treaty stresses right to self-determination and minority rights
- 1919 Pan-African Congress demands right to self-determination in colonial possessions
- 1923 Fifth Conference of the American Republics, in Santiago, Chile, addresses women's rights
- 1924 Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child
- 1924 US Congress approves Snyder Act, granting all Native Americans full citizenship
- 1926 Geneva Conference adopts Slavery Convention
| - 1902 International Alliance for Suffrage and equal Citizenship
- 1905 Trade unions form international federations
- 1910 International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union
- 1919 League of Nations and Court of International Justice
- 1919 International Labour Organization (ILO), to advocate human rights embodied in labour law
- 1919 Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
- 1919 NGOs devoted to women's rights start addressing children's rights; Save the Children (UK)
- 1922 Fourteen National human rights leagues establish International Federation of Human Rights Leagues
- 1920s National Congress of British West Africa in Accra, to promote self-determination
- 1925 Representatives of eight developing countries found Coloured International to end racial discrimination
- 1928 Inter-American Commission on Women, to ensure recognition of women's civil and political rights
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1930-49 |
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- 1930 In India Gandhi leads hundreds on long march to Dandi to protest salt tax
- 1939-45 Hitler's Nazi regime kills 6 million Jews and forces into concentration camps and murders Gypsies, Communists, labour unionists, Poles, Ukrainia s, Kurds, Armenia s, disabled people, Jehovah's Witnesses and homosexuals
- 1942 René Cassin of France urges creation of a international court to punish war crimes
- 1942 US government interns some 120,000 Japanese-Americans during Second World War
- 1942-45 Antifascist struggles in many European countries
- 1949 Chinese Revolution
| - 1930 ILO Convention Concerning Forced or Compulsory Labour
- 1933 International Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women of Full Age
- 1941 US President Roosevelt identifies four essential freedoms - of speech and religion, from want and fear
- 1945 UN Charter, emphasizing human rights
- 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- 1948 ILO Convention on the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize
- 1949 ILO Convention on the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining
| - 1933 Refugee Organization
- 1935-36 International Penal and Penitentiary Commission, to promote basic rights of prisoners
- 1945 Nuremberg and Tokyo trials
- 1945 United Nations
- 1946 UN Commission on Human Rights
- 1948 Organization of American States
- 1949 Council of Europe
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| 1950-59 |
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- 1950s National liberation wars and revolts in Asia; some African countries gain independence
- 1955 Political and civil rights movement in US; Martin Luther King Jr. leads the Montgomery bus boycott (381 days)
| - 1950 European Convention on Human Rights
- 1951 ILO Equal Retribution Convention
- 1957 ILO Convention Concerning Abolition of Forced Labour
- 1958 ILO Convention Concerning Discrimination in Employment and Occupation
| - 1950 ILO fact-finding commission deals with violations of trade union rights
- 1951 ILO Committee on Freedom of Association
- 1954 European Commission of Human Rights
- 1959 European Court of Human Rights
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| 1960-69 |
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- 1960s In Africa 17 countries secure right to self-determination, as do countries elsewhere
- 1962 National Farm Workers (United Farm Workers of America) organizes to protect migrant workers in US
- 1960s-70s Feminist movements demand equality
| - 1965 UN International Convention on the limitation of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
- 1966 UN International Convention on Civil and Political Rights
- 1966 UN International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
- 1968 First World Conference on Huma Rights, in Tehran
| - 1960 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights holds its first session
- 1961 Amnesty International
- 1963 Organization of African Unity
- 1967 Pontifical Commission for International Justice and Peace
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| 1970-79 |
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- 1970s Human rights issues attract broad attention - apartheid in South Africa, treatment of Palestinians in occupied territories, torture of political opponents in Chile, "dirty war" in Argentina, genocide in Cambodia
- 1970s People protest against Arab-Israeli conflict, Viet Nam war and Nigeria-Biafra civil war
- 1976 Amnesty International wins Nobel Peace prize
| - 1973 UN International Convention on Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid
- 1973 ILO Minimum Age Convention
- 1974 World Food Conference in Rome
- 1979 UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
| - 1970 First commissions on peace and justice in Paraguay and Brazil
- 1978 Helsinki Watch (Human Rights Watch)
- 1979 Inter-American Court of Human Rights
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| 1980-89 |
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- 1980s Latin American dictatorships end - in Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay
- 1988 In the Philippines peaceful People's Power Movement overthrows Marcos dictatorship
- 1989 Tiananmen Square
- 1989 Fall of the Berlin Wall
| - 1981 African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights
- 1984 UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
- 1986 UN Declaration on the Right to Development
- 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
| - 1983 Arab Organization for Human Rights
- 1985 UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
- 1988 Africa Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights
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| 1990-2000 |
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- 1990s Democracy spreads across Africa; Nelso Mandela released from prison and elected president of South Africa
- 1990s Ethnic cleansing in former Yugoslavia, and genocide and massive human rights violations in Rwanda
- 1998 Spain initiates extradition proceedings against General Pinochet of Chile
- 1999 Doctors without Borders wins Nobel Peace prize
- 2000 Court in Senegal charges former Chadian dictator Hissene Habre with "torture and barbarity"
| - 1990-96 Global UN conferences and summits on the issues of children, education, environment and development, human rights, population, women, social development and human settlements
- 1998 Rome statute for establishing International Criminal Court
- 1999 CEDAW Optional Protocol for Individual Complaints
- 1999 ILO Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention
| - 1992 First Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) High Commissioner for National Minorities
- 1993 First UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, appointed at the Vienna Conference
- 1993-94 International criminal tribunals for former Yugoslavia and Rwanda
- 1995 South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission
- 1995-99 Ten countries launch national plans of action for the protection and promotion of human rights
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Global Issues