Civil Rights

Human rights, civil rights, and civil liberties are often used interchangeably, but these terms may have distinct definitions in different nations. Human rights, such as the rights to life, freedom from slavery and torture, and equality, are attained at birth and should ideally be universal in all countries as defined by the Declaration of Universal Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948. Some human rights are also civil rights or civil liberties, which are obtained with the citizenship of a particular political state and guaranteed by the nation's laws. In the United States, civil rights are generally interpreted as the rights of all citizens to be treated equally, without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex,...