Human Rights Education

Chapter 1

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES AND

CONCEPTS IN HUMAN RIGHTS

At the end of this chapter the student should be able

to:
 Define Human Rights
 Understand the Evolution of the Concept of
Human Rights
 Remember the Attributes of Human Rights
 Evaluate the Classifications of Human Rights

Human Rights Defined

The Philippine Supreme Court recognizes the fact that the definition of human
rights remains inconclusive. Nevertheless, it agrees that “human rights seem to closely
identify the term to the universally accepted traits and attributes of an individual, along
with what is generally considered to be his inherent and inalienable rights,
encompassing almost all aspects of life.” As such, it may be argued that the term
human right is a broad concept that its scope “can be understood to include those that
relate to an individual’s social, economic, cultural, political and civil rights.”

However, the basic definition of human rights is that these refer to “those rights
which pertain to all persons and are possessed by every individual because they are
human.” Otherwise stated, human rights are those rights which a person is entitled by
reason of him being a part of the human family. Accordingly, human rights are inherent
rights and are not conferred by any authority.

In addition, human rights may be defined in the context of present-day

understanding as those rights which human beings cannot live with dignity, freedom,
and justice in any nation or state regardless of color, place, birth, ethnicity, race,
religion, or sex or any such considerations. This concept is reflected in the Philippine
Constitution when it declares that “the State values the dignity of every human person
and guarantees full respect for human right” and consequently, (t)he Congress shall

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give highest priority to the enactment of measures that protect and enhance the right of
all the people to human dignity.”

Concept of a Human, Philippine Perspective. It should be understood that

human rights which belong to a human person or being. This means that in order for
this to exist, there should be a “human” in existence. The concept of a human, in a
general sense refers to a right-holder, one who can demand these rights. He or she
should be rightfully treated with dignity for the reason that he is part of the human
family. Attached to this is the question of when does a human begin to exist? The
Philippine legal system has categorically stated in the celebrated case of Imbong v.
Ochoa, that a human person began to exist when woman’s egg cell is fertilized by a
man’s sperm cell. At the precise moment the same was fertilized that it is now entitled of
the most fundamental human right to life. Consequently, a contraceptive medicine which
kills the fertilized egg cell will amount to an act of killing a human, an abortion.

The Evolution of the Concept of Human Rights

Arguably, the emergence of the concept of human rights may be traced to

antiquity – as far back as the Greek and the Roman times. The earliest manifestation of
human rights can be tied up with the Greek stoicism philosophy, one of earlier thoughts
which built the foundation of the natural law theory.

According to stoic’s beliefs, every human person should live in accordance with
nature. In so doing, every man was gifted by nature a rational thinking for him to
formulate ethical mores which are in line with nature. Considering that every person has
the capacity to reason, then it is incumbent upon them to respect one another. Hence,
the idea that every person, naturally equipped with the capacity to reason out, are
equal. This concept of equality, which is one of the primordial manifestations of human
rights, was also concurred in by Ulpian, a jurist from the Roman Empire. He argued that
in accordance with natural law, “men and women are equal and (are) born free.”
Nevertheless, although, Ulpian’s declaration of equality of sexes may be related to
human rights, many scholars argue that the birth of the true concept of human rights
can only be attributed to medieval scholars from Thomas Hobbes to St. Thomas
Aquinas to John Locke and to Hugo Grotius.

This idea of equality of all men impregnated a richer debate on the rights of every
person. The early writing of Hugo Grotius, On the Law of War and Peace, reinforces the
stoic philosophy of reason and natural law (although some argues that Grotian
philosophy is more Aristotelian than stoic).

John Locke's essays, Civil Government, followed suit. However, what is

noteworthy on Locke's view is that he expounded the correlation between natural law

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and rational thoughts. According to him, "human beings' reason should tell them that
they should not harm others because all human beings were created by the same divine
force, and therefore shared certain rights. This translates, again, to the concept of
equality propounded by thinkers before him.

The essay of Thomas Hobbes, the Leviathan, introduced the idea of simple
freedom and liberties and its consequential obligations. His main thesis was that natural
rights pertaining to such freedom and liberties are not without limitations since it should
be exercised in accordance with natural law. That although, a person has the right to
self-preservation, he cannot exercise it without boundaries to the extent of harming the
respective right of his fellow human being,

On account of this right to self-preservation, John Locke and Thomas Hobbes

both agree to one point that all human rights emanate from one "original right" which
pertains to the right of an individual to preserve his life."

What can be seen from the foregoing discussion on the origin of the concept of
human rights is that every human person is by nature (hence natural law) gifted with
rights and all are considered equal notwithstanding varying circumstances such as sex.

This same concept was carried on in the aftermath of the Second World War.
During the immediate post-war era, there was an international effort to protect and
promote the rights and dignity of every human being through an international legal
system. It was under this period that the term "human rights" was formally introduced.
12 This observation can be derived from the texts of the 1945 United Nations Charter of
the Human Rights and in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These two
documents address the States and the individual person in the pursuit of giving
protection to human rights. This further catapulted the drafting of subsequent
international legal documents which embody the same goal such as the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

To date, the ICESCR and the ICCPR, together with the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, are regarded as the International Bill of Human Rights. These three
instruments treat human rights not in a particular manner. This viewpoint was
transformed in a later period as what is may be seen in subsequent international human
rights law which treats the subject in particular aspects.

Attributes of Human Rights

Human rights are universal, interdependent and indivisible, inalienable, and

inherent.

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Universal. Human rights apply to all persons by reason of him being a human.

Interdependent and indivisible. All human rights are interrelated or

interconnected with one another.

Inalienable. Human rights are inalienable in a sense that it cannot be removed

out of a human person just because of his particular status or circumstance.

Inherent. Human rights are birth rights.

Classifications of Human Rights: Civil, Political, and Economic, Social, and

Cultural

Human rights may be categorized into three groups: first, civil rights; second,
political rights; and third, economic, social and cultural rights.

Civil rights are also known as civil liberties. These are sets of rights pertaining to
“those that belong to every citizen of the state or country, or, in wider sense, to all its
inhabitants, and are not connected with the organization or administration of the
government. They include the rights to property, marriage, equal protection of the laws,
freedom of contract, etc. or, as otherwise defined civil rights are rights appertaining to a
person by virtue of his citizenship in a state or community. Such term may also refer, in
its general sense, to rights capable of being enforced or redressed in a civil action.

Political rights are those which guarantee a citizen the authority to participate in
the running of the affairs of the government.

Economic, social and cultural rights are human rights which recognize, protect
and guarantee the person’s right to education, housing, adequate standard of living,
health and science and culture.

All classes of rights are interdependent to one another

Bear in mind that one of the attributes of human rights is the interdependence of
one to the other. This means that the fulfillment of one class of right is not independent
or isolated from the enjoyment of another.

Legitimate Limitations on Human Rights

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It is interesting that human rights are not characterized as absolute, which means
that it may be subjected to restrictions or limitations. However, these limitations are not
absolute as well.

Generally, in order to qualify such limitations as a valid interference on an

individual's human rights, it must be established that these are proportionate to the
result intended by that curtailment. Clapham (2007) proposes a framework under which
the said restriction may be tested. This is summarized as follows: "(1) is there a
legitimate aim to the interference?; (2) is the interference prescribed by a clear and
accessible law?; and (3) is the interference proportionate to the identified legitimate aim
and necessary in a democratic society?"

Noteworthy of the foregoing framework is the second aspect which refers to the
existence of a legislation. This means, then, that restriction on human rights may be
made only through a valid law.

Restrictions of human rights may be exercised by the State through its police
power

Conflict exists between the competing interests of an individual person to

exercise his rights and of the State to enforce peace and order. Police power allows the
regulation of such right, especially through legislative acts. This is the power to
prescribe regulations, to promote the health, morals, peace, education, good order or
safety, and general welfare of the people.

However, the use of this power should observe the standards which are clearly
laid down by jurisprudence. First, there must be a legitimate purpose, and second, it
must be done through lawful means.

A vague law which limits the exercise of human rights is not a legitimate
restriction; void-for-vagueness doctrine

Again, a valid law must be clear as to its terms in order to properly inform the people of
such restriction, otherwise it is void or inexistent. For an instance, the right to free
speech of a person cannot be curtailed through a law which in itself is equivocal in a
sense that it lacks comprehensible standards that men of common intelligence must
necessarily guess at its meaning and differ as to its application."

Human Rights Law Defined

There is no specific definition of human rights law. However, it may be loosely

defined as a rule of conduct created for the promotion and protection of human rights.

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Unlike any other laws, human rights laws do not create rights but merely set out a state-
recognition of these rights in order to effectively promote and protect them. This is for
the reason that human rights are inherent to human beings and are not conferred,
created, or granted by any authority. The enforcement of human rights laws may either
be international or domestic in scope or both.

PHILIPPINE HUMAN RIGHTS LAW AND

JURISPRUDENCE
2020 EDITION

JAMES GREGORY ALCARAZ VILLASIS

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