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Human rights have been the focus of study since ancient times as we find mentions of human rights in the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi, the juridical rulings of Isracli Sanhedrin, the Islamic legislation and our own Vedic tradition of seeing the opponent’s logic before our own. The English Magna Carta, which stated the political and legal rights of the English people, is referred to as the basis for modern English law. With the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), after World War II, human rights issues began to take a more formal shape as the provisions laid down in UDHR became binding on the nations signatories to it. Various international treaties have been signed between different groups of countries on issues like human rights, immigrants’ rights, extradition, etc. Intense political discussion is still continuing over the scope and content of economic, social and cultural rights within the ambit of international relations, development and globalization. This book is an edited volume of articles which critically discusses a wide range of topics like history of human rights, gender rights, rights of the indigenous people, dalit rights, civil rights, rights of the refugees, child rights, philosophical foundations of human rights, right to information and the rights of the third gender. Besides, the papers in this collection also give insights into some empirical issues like the declining sex ratio and other less emphasised aspects of human rights such as environment and human rights, right to live, etc. Moreover, it highlights the role of scientists in upholding human rights, particularly during the war. The book will help in disseminating knowledge of human rights and create an awareness in society. It will be highly useful to the students, teachers and researchers in the field of human rights. About the Author Subrata Sankar Bagchi, Ph.D. in Anthropology, has been teaching for the last 12 years in a college under the University of Calcutta. Before taking up teaching, he was a UGC/NET Fellow for over 4 years. In addition, he has conducted research on various topics like the tribes of India, child labour problem, urban marginalisation, methodological issues in fieldwork, qualitative methodology, human rights, etc. He has published several papers in various internationally acclaimed journals. He has also chaired many sessions and presented papers in conferences and seminars.