HUMAN RIGHTS
Human rights are rights inherent inherent to all human beings, beings, whatever whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, color, religion religion,, language, language, or any other status. status. We are all equally equally entitled entitled to our our human uman righ rightts with withou outt disc discri rimi mina nattion. ion. These hese righ rights ts ar are e all 1 interrelated, interrelated, interdependent and indivisible. Human rights are basic to humanity. They apply to all people everywher everywhere. e. Understand Understanding ing of human human rights is an import important ant part of our individual status as human human beings. These are the basic rights and and free freedo doms ms that that belo belong ng to ever every y pers person on in the the worl world. d. They They are the fundamental things that human beings need in order to ourish and participate fully in society. !s de"ne in the boo#, Human Rights Law: Human Rights Culture by Sarmiento, Human $ights are the aggregate of privileges, claim, bene bene"t "ts, s, enti entitl tlem emen ents ts and and moral moral guar guaran ante tees es that that pert pertai ain n to man man % beca becaus use e of his his huma humani nity ty.. Human Human rights rights re recog cogni& ni&e e the dignit dignity y inher inherent ent in every every person person as a human human being, being, regard regardles less s of his or her part partic icul ular ar nati nation onal alit ity, y, ra race ce,, ethn ethnic icit ity, y, relig eligio ion, n, righ rights ts belo belong ng to everyo everyone, ne, re regar gardle dless ss of their their circum circumsta stance nces. s. They They cannot cannot be given given away or ta#en away from you by anybody . In othe otherr word words, s, human human rights belong to everyone wherever they are because they are human beings endowed with dignity. United Nation Nations s on Human Human Rights Rights,, universal !s prov provid ided ed unde underr United human rights are often expressed and guaranteed by law, in the forms of treaties, customary international law, general principles and other sources of international law. 'nternational human rights law lays down obligations of (overnments to act in certain ways or to refrain from cert certai ain n acts acts,, in or orde derr to prom promot ote e and and prot protec ectt huma human n righ rights ts and and ) fundamental freedoms of individuals or groups. 1
United *ations +ce- Human $ights. anuary /, %01 http-22www.ohchr.org23*2'ssues24ages2WhatareHuman$ights.aspx % 5armiento, $., Human $ights 6aw6aw- Human $ights 7ulture. 8ue&on 7ity7ity- $ex $ex 4rinting 7ompany, 'nc., %019. p.1 ) +p. cit., cit., http-22www.ohchr.org23*2'ssues24ages2WhatareHuman$ights.aspx
There are three :); characteristics of Human $ights, to witinherent, universal, and inalienable. Inherent means that rights are the birthright of all human beings, existing independently of the will of either and individual human being or group. They are not obtained and granted through any human action or intervention. When one is born, he carries with them these rights. They cannot be separated or detached from him. Inalienable means that no person can deprive any person these rights and no person can repudiate these rights by himself. 't also means that these rights cannot be the sub
Human rights are generally thought of as the most fundamental rights. They include the right to life, education, and protection from torture, free expression, and fair trial. =any of these rights bleed into civil rights, but they are considered to be necessities of the human existence. 5ome of these basic rights which are either inherent or obtained through the constitution are the civil rights and political rights. These concepts of human rights and civil rights are the two basic rights that are often debated upon. >oth human rights and civil rights have their own features and characteristics as well as political rights.
?or us to clarify these three concepts, we ma#e distinctions among the three rights, the human rights, civil and political rights.
7ivil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individual@s freedom from infringement by governments, social organi&ations, and private individuals, and which ensure one@s ability to 9
+p. 7it., p.)
participate in the civil and political life of the society and 5tate without discrimination.
7ivil rights include the ensuring of peoples@ physical and mental integrity, life and safetyA protection from discrimination on grounds such as race, gender, national origin, color, sexual, ethnicity, religion, or disabilityA and individual rights such as privacy, the freedoms of though and conscience, speech and expression, religion, the press, assembly and movement.B 4olitical rights include natural
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Wi#ipedia. anuary /, %01. http-22en.wi#ipedia.org2wi#i27ivilandpoliticalrights .
Ibid. Ibid. Ibid.
7ivil rights, on the other hand, are those rights that one en
Human $ights was conceived soon after the second World War. Human rights was widely accepted after the United *ations (eneral !ssembly adopted the Universal Feclaration of Human $ights in 1/9E. 7ivil rights are rights that an individual en
7ivil rights are related to the constitution of each country, whereas human rights are considered a universal right. While human 9
H(.+$(. What is FiJerence between 7ivil $ights and Human $ights. http-22www.hg.org2article.aspK idL)19B
rights are basic rights inherent with birth, civil rights are the creation of society.
While human rights do not change from one country to another, civil rights diJer from one nation to another. 7ivil rights basically depend on the laws of the country. Human rights are universally accepted rights regardless of nationality, religion and ethnicity. +n the other hand, civil rights fall within the limits of a country@s law, and pertain to the social, cultural, religious and traditional standards, among other things. 10 !s a summary of the diJerence between human rights and civil rights, the following are given-
1. Human rights are those rights that an individual en
FiJerence >etween Human and 7ivil $ights M FiJerence >etween M Human vs 7ivil $ights http-22www.diJerencebetween.net2miscellaneous2politics2diJerenceCbetweenChumanCandCcivilC rights2Nix&&)+FDq0Oae
ORIGINS OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Human rights are considered the oJspring of natural rights, which themselves evolved from the concept of natural law. *atural law, which has played a dominant role in Western political theory for centuries, is that standard of higherCorder morality against which all other laws are ad
The idea of Ihuman rightsI is not universal C it is essentially the product of 1Dth and 1Eth century 3uropean thought. 3ven the idea of IrightsI does not necessarily exist in every society or advanced civili&ation. $ights are not the same thing as standards of behavior punishable or required by rules, which can be fundamentally unfair to individuals, or used to oppress minority interests.
The earliest rules about standards of behavior among people dealt with prescribing or prohibiting conduct that experience proved was li#ely to lead to conict. There were great lawma#ers C the $oman, ustinian, for one, who published his great 7odex of various laws in the early Bth century Cwho tried to establish cohesive schemes of rights and duties. The great religions of the world C udaism, Hinduism, 7hristianity, >uddhism, Taoism, 'slam, and others C have all sought to establish comprehensive, coherent moral codes of conduct based on divine law. !ll contain profound ideas on the dignity of the human being , and are concerned with the duties and obligations of man to his
fellow human beings, to nature and indeed to (od and the whole of creation.
>ut until the 1Dth century such attempts to establish a framewor# for such rules, laws and codes, whether in social, legal, secular or theological debate, emphasi&ed duties and privileges that arose from peoplesI status or relationships, rather than abstract rights that, philosophically, preceded or underlay those relations or laws.
Then, attention moved from social responsibilities to the individualIs needs and participation. 't was seen as fundamental to the wellCbeing of society, under the inuence of philosophers such as (rotius, Hobbes and 6oc#e, then, these rights were called InaturalI rights, or Ithe rights of manI. These natural or moral rights became part of the political agenda. They spread as the economic frontiers came down.
+ne of the "rst, and most important, battles was about politics. 7ould Inatural rightsI be handed over to rulersK 4eople in their InaturalI condition have unlimited freedom. 'f they choose to be ruled, they surrender either all, or some at least of this Inatural rightI to their #ing or government, in exchange for civil society and peace. 'f they could surrender IallI, then people could be sub
This issue became a tremendous cause in 1Dth century 3ngland. The protection of the peopleIs rights :especially the right to political participation, and freedom of religious belief and observance; against an oppressive government was the catch cry of the 3nglish $evolution of 1B90 :which led to rebel leader +liver 7romwell heading the
government, and the Oing being executed;. 't was also the catch cry for the rebellion against the civil administration C the I(lorious $evolutionI C of 1BEE which saw another Oing on the throne, but also led to the 3nglish >ill of $ights, in 1BE/.
The >ill of $ights dealt with the fundamental concerns of the time. 't made the Oing sub
Towards the end of the 1Eth century, according to the philosopher ohn 6oc#e, it was argued that it was part of (odIs natural law that noC one should harm anybody else in their life, health, liberty or possessions. These rights could never be given up. The existence of this natural law also established the right to do whatever was necessary to protect such rights.
This view limited the role of government. *oCone could be sub
This thin#ing underlay the !merican coloniesI Feclaration of 'ndependence in 1DDB. This not only asserted that governments were established by the consent of the people to protect rights, but unforgettably expressed these rights in the terms that- all men are created e!ual, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Li"e, Liberty and the #ursuit o" Ha##iness.
(overnments that did not carry out their protective role could be overthrown. 5adly, the Feclaration did not, in fact, extend human rights to all human beings. The "rst U5 7onstitution expressly preserved the institution of slavery and did not recogni&e the equal rights of women. =any IrightsI were added to the U5 7onstitution over the next 10 years- the 3qual $ights !mendment, designed to give women equality was defeated in a referendum
'n 1DEE, as a result of the ?rench $evolution, the Feclaration of the $ights of =an and of 7iti&ens asserted the primacy of natural rights in similarly inspirational terms to the U5 Feclaration of 'ndependence. Pet in the Terror that soon followed the $evolution, with all its hopes, thousands un
The doctrines of human rights that we now have are direct descendants of this thin#ing. The disparity in rights protection in practice reected the society of the time.
! human right is InaturalI in that every one owns them, not because they are sub
The greatest %0th century statements of InaturalI or human rights can be dated to 1/9E, the Universal Feclaration of Human $ights . This preceded a range of international 7onventions, 7ovenants, Feclarations and other treaties that have followed the tradition. =ost came from the United *ations. >ut other groups have also adopted human rights standards. The 3uropean community, for example, has adopted a 7onvention on Human $ights. =any nations have incorporated rights into their national constitutions C ac#nowledging that the rights exist, not that they are created by their laws.
The most common IuniversalI rights are the right to lifeA to freedomA to own property :limiting where government may intrude;A citi&enship rights :voting, nationality and participation in public life;A rights to standards of good behaviour by governments :or protection of the rule of law;, and social, economic and cultural rights. The latter have become important during the %0th century, and raise important and still controversial issues about social
Universal human rights are, historically, the ower of what was originally a 3uropean plant. They have now received the support of world nations. $espect for human rights is becoming a universal principle of good government. 11
The ideas about human rights have evolved over many centuries. >ut they achieved strong international support following the Holocaust 11
$ayner, =oira. Universal Feclarations of Human $ights. anuary 10, %01.
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and World War ''. To protect future generations from a repeat of these horrors, the United *ations adopted the Universal Feclaration of Human $ights :UFH$; in 1/9E and invited states to sign and ratify it. ?or the "rst time, the Universal Feclaration set out the fundamental rights and freedoms shared by all human beings.
THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION of HUMAN RIGHTS
'n 1/9D, the U* established the Human $ights 7ommission to draft the UFH$. $epresentatives from a range of countries, including the UO, were involved in the drafting process. +n 10 Fecember 1/9E the Feclaration was adopted by the U*. The preamble to the UFH$ sets out the aims of the Feclaration, namely to contribute to Vfreedom, efore this the rights and freedoms of individuals were regarded as the domestic aJair of the state within whose
PROPOSAL TERM PAPER: TOPIC
4eople with disabilities suJer serious gaps in the en
Human $ights. Universal Feclaration of Human $ights. $hili##ine %udicial %ournal. anuary =arch %009, Xol. B, 'ssue *o. 1/, p.1
attention is needed to address the barriers that persons with disabilities continue to face in all parts of the world in their participation as equal members of society. 4ersons with disabilities face discrimination and barriers that restrict them from participating in society on an equal basis with others every day. They are denied their rights to be included in the general school system, to be employed, to live independently in the community, to move freely, to vote, to participate in sport and cultural activities, to en
education for all without discrimination and on the basis of equal opportunities, including for persons with disabilities.
!s enshrined in the Universal Feclaration of Human $ights, !rticle %, &'veryone has the right to a standard o" living ade!uate "or the health, and well ( being o" himsel", and o" his "amily, including "ood, clothing, housing, and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event o" unem#loyment, sic)ness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lac) o" livelihood in 1)
'bid, !rticle %B, p. E
circumstances beyond his control .Y19 =ost of the time, persons with disabilities are being denied of proper medical assistance for common illness. 5ometimes, they are being deliberately left to die so that they will not be a burden to the society. 'f given the right to standard of living, it could prevent death and increase the quality of life of persons with disabilities. These people need also an equal access to their rights to be en
The protection guaranteed in other human rights treaties, and grounded in the Universal Feclaration of Human $ights, should apply to all. 4ersons with disabilities have, however, remained largely *invisible+ , often sideClined in the rights debate and unable to en
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'bid, !rticle %, p.E United *ations Human $ights. http-22www.ohchr.org23*2'ssues2Fisability24ages2Fisability'ndex.aspx 1
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