From Charity to NGOs with the emergence of Human Rights

Abstract

The aim of my thesis is to understand whether there could be a connection between charity and human rights. In the first chapter, by analyzing charity from different points of views, I try to understand what charity was and is today, what its meanings were and are, and how they changed and developed through time.

In the second chapter, I provide an overview of the history of human rights, from ancient times until nowadays. I analyze the main events that occurred and that brought to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, and the consequences of this extraordinary landmark. In addition, I make a comparison between human rights and charity, if there are any analogies and differences.

In my last chapter, I focus on one of the actors in the field of human rights, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs); why they are created and what their goals are. In this chapter, I want to underline how there is a substantial and profound difference in the charitable efforts of the early modern and modern ages, and the idea that certain rights (not only individual ones, but also those to welfare, education, health and care) must be safeguarded for everyone and everywhere, thus showing how the concept of charity itself changed over the centuries.