What are human rights?

Human rights are a list of rights which any human being is able to have, here are some good examples.

• The right to life
• The right to food, water and housing
• The right to express ourselves
• The right to live where we choose
• The right to practice our religion
• The right to an education
  

etc... There are many more human rights
Another Answer: We just passed the 50th anniversary (December 10, 1948) of The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (please click the Related Link below to read the whole Declaration). Article 1 states: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."

Human Rights have been codified many times The famous preamble to the United States Declaration of Independence begins: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." When Thomas Jefferson wrote those words, he was the owner of black African slaves, and we all know that he didn't include black African slaves when he wrote that (nor did he mean women of any color, race or creed), but if Jefferson were alive today to witness the inauguration of the first African American President of The United States I think he'd take a different stance, and certainly our interpretation of what Jefferson said has changed dramatically over time.

One might imagine that Human Rights should be common sense, but in a world where torture, slavery and genocide are still practiced routinely, obviously common sense is most uncommon. Yet every human being is born with Human Rights, and it is the responsibility of every single human being to insure that every other human being's Human Rights are respected. My grandfather was fond of saying that, "Your right to swing your arm ends where the other fellow's nose begins." There's some wisdom in that.