ABSTRACT
The history of human rights is synonymous to the history of human civilisation.1 The concept of human rights has its reflections in the oldest religious texts, political writings and legal debates. However, these rights could be declared as ‘common standards’2 only in the second half of the twentieth century.3 Within a few decades, the centuries-old concept of human rights grew up to four generations. And this worldwide growth and acceptance to these rights gave birth to a global network of human rights regime at different levels. This chapter is an attempt to give an overview of the philosophical, theoretical and historical evolution of human rights. The prime focus of this chapter would be to trace the politico-legal development of human rights concept so as to understand the true essence of human rights. The chapter would also bring out the religion-based approaches to human rights from which I have tried to infer and highlight the human rights values imbibed in the societies of South Asia.
