A human rights abuse is abuse of people in a way that violates any fundamental human rights.
According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (generally accepted as the international standard for human rights), fundamental human rights are violated when:
A certain race, creed, or group is denied recognition as a "person". (Article 2)
Men and women are not treated as equal. (Article 2)
Different racial or religious groups are not treated as equal. (Article 2)
A person is sold as or used as a slave. (Article 4)
In practice, human rights abuses are rare in fully-democratic countries, and common in dictatorships or theocracies. However, in some countries, such as the United States, human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International, have criticized the use of the death penalty.
