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From Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium

Human rights are a conception of natural rights that are considered to be universal including civil rights, freedom from unjust actions and the right to express oneself freely. There are a variety of human rights charters and laws including the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, regional charters like the European Convention of Human Rights and specific national human rights laws like the British Human Rights Act. The Universal Declaration was put together by Eleanor Roosevelt after World War 2 for the United Nations.

A variety of human rights organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch exist in order to try and pressure governments into granting the protections and abstaining from the prohibited actions of the charters and the values which underlie them, as well as pressuring other governments and organizations into advocating for human rights, and applying both market and governmental pressure into conforming to human rights agreements.