The idea of human rights has an inseparable relation with human rights movement, since the idea of human rights developed through human rights movement in a certain social structure.

Generally speaking, Rousseau's 'Social Contract (1762)', Montesquieu's 'The Spirit of Laws (1748)', and Locke's 'Two Treatises of Civil Government (1690)' have long been regarded as the very beginning of human rights idea. Their assertions were based on continuous struggle against social structures such as feudalism and medieval religious society which suppressed freedom of human activities. It was a triumph of human rights movement.

History of mankind in modern and contemporary days, in one aspect, is a history of struggle for human rights and democracy. The idea of human rights was a result of such historical developments.