human rights
plural noun
: rights (such as freedom from unlawful imprisonment, torture, and execution) regarded as belonging fundamentally to all persons
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web Western countries and China are waging an influence battle over the UN Human Rights Council, with China pushing aggressively to stop the organization from acting on its human rights abuses in Xinjiang this week. 
Anders Hagstrom, Fox News, 11 Sep. 2022 Exploiting the land for its rubber production, the colony engaged in massive human rights abuses causing what are believed to be millions of deaths. J.s. Marcus, WSJ, 2 Sep. 2022 Throughout the past four years, the international community within the UN has done little about the allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Simone Mccarthy, CNN, 1 Sep. 2022 Critics say Israel’s political interests influenced Pegasus sales to governments with long track records of human rights abuses. Miriam Berger, Washington Post, 22 Aug. 2022 That’s the bargain South Africa struck as apartheid’s decades of segregation and human rights abuses ended in the early 1990s. Morgan Wack, The Conversation, 16 Aug. 2022 While López Obrador claims human rights abuses are no longer tolerated, the governmental National Human Rights Commission has received more than a thousand complaints alleging abuses by the National Guard. Maria Verza, Anchorage Daily News, 15 Aug. 2022 Even a country that imprisoned and fined Bidali for speaking out on widespread labor and human rights abuses? Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 12 Aug. 2022 Foreign countries have since accused the hardline Islamist group of a litany of human rights abuses. Emma Batha, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 Aug. 2022 See More
Anders Hagstrom, Fox News, 11 Sep. 2022 Exploiting the land for its rubber production, the colony engaged in massive human rights abuses causing what are believed to be millions of deaths. J.s. Marcus, WSJ, 2 Sep. 2022 Throughout the past four years, the international community within the UN has done little about the allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Simone Mccarthy, CNN, 1 Sep. 2022 Critics say Israel’s political interests influenced Pegasus sales to governments with long track records of human rights abuses. Miriam Berger, Washington Post, 22 Aug. 2022 That’s the bargain South Africa struck as apartheid’s decades of segregation and human rights abuses ended in the early 1990s. Morgan Wack, The Conversation, 16 Aug. 2022 While López Obrador claims human rights abuses are no longer tolerated, the governmental National Human Rights Commission has received more than a thousand complaints alleging abuses by the National Guard. Maria Verza, Anchorage Daily News, 15 Aug. 2022 Even a country that imprisoned and fined Bidali for speaking out on widespread labor and human rights abuses? Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 12 Aug. 2022 Foreign countries have since accused the hardline Islamist group of a litany of human rights abuses. Emma Batha, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 Aug. 2022 See More Word History
First Known Use
1629, in the meaning defined above
Legal Definition
human rights
noun plural
: rights (as freedom from unlawful imprisonment, torture, and execution) regarded as belonging fundamentally to all people