It’s been almost 75 years since the United Nations General Assembly

adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and

embedded it into the domain of international law, and I can say the
development of human rights has come a long way as people
nowadays enjoy different kinds of rights.

Human rights, as they are inherent in all human beings, should be

protected even in domestic settings. However, sometimes domestic
proceedings fail to address human rights cases, so mechanisms at the
international level are provided. The United Nations established
mechanisms and bodies in its system to monitor the states’ overall
compliance with human rights law. For example, an alleged victim of
human rights violations can file a formal case through the United
Nations provided mechanisms: Special Procedures, Treaty Bodies, or
the Human Rights Council.These mechanisms ensure that these
violations are investigated, prevented, and stopped. Moreover, these
has varying criteria that embody the dedication of the UN to cater to
every possible problem and every individual from different walks of life.
These UN complaint mechanisms are conveniently designed for the
convenience of everyone, even laypeople. Meaning, knowledge of the
law or even of the technical legal terms is not needed to raise
complaints. Lastly, the complaint mechanisms are people-centered, and
I think it is only right as human rights violations can happen to anyone,
so the manner in which they can be addressed should be convenient,
and that is what the UN has gifted the world.

Further reading reveals that other supranational regions have

cooperated in this Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the one
that really stands out for me is the Charter of Africa. Aside from seeking
to protect individual civil and political rights, the African Charter was the
only regional human rights instrument to incorporate third-generation
rights, or "rights of solidarity." Examples of these rights are the right to
self-determination, the right to development, the right to natural
resources, and the right to a satisfactory environment. These
third-generational rights focus on the rights of people in general, and the
African Charter devoted six articles in its Human and People’s Rights
solely for these rights which for me, is a very commendable as Africans
did not only ensure the protection of the rights of present generation but
as well as the future generations’ rights by imposing duties to the
former.

At the end of the day, we are all confronted by the bitter truth that,
despite the fact that humankind has managed to claim what is due to us,
our fight for human rights is far from over. We still have many wars to
stop, children to save from hunger, resources to preserve, women to
free, and many other human rights to protect. We may have fought
many fights to get us here but we are bound to fight more to truly win.