Human rights is an important concept because it transcends borders, governments and identities. Human rights are those rights every human being is entitled to simply by virtue of being human. It transcends civil or citizenship rights b/c focus is on recognizing another's humanity

Democracy is an important concept because it's about the extent to which people are able to engage in self-governance and participate in the decision-making process when it comes to policy.

Both of these concepts are fragile & relatively new in human society. And both are constantly under attack by authoritarianism (governments where the top leader has unquestioned power) & imperialism (governments engaged in annexing, colonizing & exploiting other nations).

What we're witnessing around the world is multiple populations rising up against authoritarian & imperialist gov'ts. We also see these oppressive gov'ts & their leaders forming alliances to undermine democracy & the notion of human rights around the world.

All of these gov'ts are engaging in human rights abuses of some kind against minority groups within their nations. China is persecuting Muslims. Russia is persecuting gay people. USA is persecuting everybody. In Bolivia, the Indigenous are persecuted. One can go on & on w/ a list