This indicates that human rights, and the desire for human rights, seem to be a human need, and so, it is not reliant on any one foundation, such as the Protestant Reformation. True, the Reformation set the wheels in motion, but continued oppression by tyrannical governments also caused the need for human rights. This is true for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well. The Declaration came as a result of World War II and the formation of the United Nations, and it sought to ensure the human rights of all citizens of the world, no matter where they lived or who governed them. Again, the basic belief that everyone is entitled to human rights is a basic human condition. It usually takes some kind of power or tyranny or oppression to bring out the desire for these rights, and after World War II and the Holocaust, there was another thrust for rights around the world.
There is another cause for the desire for human rights, as well,...
This is true in the case for Civil Rights that took place in the U.S. after the Civil War and into the 1960s, when blacks were segregated and treated as less than human in many areas, leading eventually to the revolution for Civil Rights, which are another form of human rights. When people are oppressed, by a government or by one another, they will ultimately revolt, and this has been shown time and again throughout history, as well.
In conclusion, the sudden flowering of respect for rights could date back to the Reformation, but it also has roots in the continued tyranny of powerful governments, and the people's eventual dissatisfaction with that tyranny. Too much power in the hands of too few will always result in revolt, and that has been proven throughout history. The Reformation formed the foundation of change, and continued tyranny helped in grow and flower into a true respect and demand for human rights.
