Page 14 - Dignity and justice for all of us our voices are heard in Thailand

limitations which hindered the enjoyment of those rights, leading to uprisings, revolts and revolutions which occurred
throughout history.

Human rights, as they are understood today, came about as a result of several historical phases in history. First are the major changes in
social structure in the Western world that led to the expansion of trade and the emergence of the new concepts of property and
wealth in the 18th century. Along with these developments came the recognition of new rights: e.g. individual rights, property rights,
rights to trade and rights to justice. The growing significance of these rights coincided with urban expansion and the growing power
of the middle classes in many European cities. These social changes triggered revolutions in England, America and France. These three
revolutionary milestones emphasized freedom and equality among all human beings, as well as political and civil rights.

The second phase concerns the social changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, which added a new
dimension to the concept of human rights from the working class and social perspective. This new dimension emphasized equal rights
and equal access to socio-economic and cultural opportunities. This dynamic of change spawned the Russian Revolution in the early
20th century and many other revolutions that occurred at later stages throughout the world.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights came into being in 1948, following a long period of preparation before the end of the
Second World War. Leaders from various countries joined together to draft the principles on human rights, resulting in the multi-
faceted aspects of the Declaration, which came about because of differences in emphasis. The Declaration itself is an amalgam of
principles that has been adopted as a joint commitment, but not a legally-binding document per se. Subsequently, two related
international treaties followed the Declaration, reflecting the different perspectives prevailing in the world after the Second World War.
The first treaty emphasizes civic and political rights, while the second focuses on socio-economic and cultural rights. This dichotomy
mirrors that which emerged at the beginning of the ‘Cold War,’ when the world was divided into two camps: the ‘capitalist’ camp
endorsed the first treaty; whereas the ‘socialist’ camp supported the second.

During the same period, countries under colonial rule achieved their goal of independence. These countries, together with others that
were not under colonial rule, were categorized as being ‘underdeveloped’ or ‘developing’ nations. In the majority of these countries, the
links between livelihood and natural resources are more pronounced, while community traditions in natural resource management are
very strong since these are key to their own survival. This is where the development of another strand of human rights, which differs
from the two previously mentioned concepts, emerged.

The confrontation between the two camps during the Cold War era also led to the race to take control of natural resources across the
globe. This created the development paradigm that mainly aims for economic growth and infrastructure development for the
exploitation of natural resources. In this process, the rights to manage natural resources became centralized, depending more and

2 Dignity and Justice for All of Us