Concepts of Human Rights :BSED SOCIAL STUDIES

Concepts
in
Human
Rights
Prepared by :
Etang
Ebanit
Gabutan
Oliveros
Pelongco
Torillo
Vecilla
Llausas
Butac
1|Page Layte
 Concepts of Human Rights :BSED SOCIAL STUDIES

Table of Contents

A. Definition of Human Rights ------------------------------------------------------ page 3

B. History of Human Rights ------------------------------------------------------ page 4-8

a. 1800 to World War I

b. Between World War I and World War II

c. After World War II

C. Types of Human Rights ------------------------------------------------------ page 9-10

D. Human Rights Violation and Abuse -------------------------------------------- page 11-14

E. Legal Documents and Peace Alternatives ------------------------------------- page 15

F. References --------------------------------------------------------------------------- page 16

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Definition of Human Rights

Human rights are moral principles or norms[1] for certain standards of human behaviour
and are regularly protected as substantive rights in substantive law, municipal and international
law.[2] They are commonly understood as inalienable,[3] fundamental rights "to which a person is
inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being" [4] and which are "inherent in all
human beings",[5] regardless of their age, ethnic origin, location, language, religion, ethnicity, or
any other status.[3] They are applicable everywhere and at every time in the sense of
being universal,[1] and they are egalitarian in the sense of being the same for everyone.[3] They are
regarded as requiring empathy and the rule of law[6] and imposing an obligation on persons to
respect the human rights of others,[1][3] and it is generally considered that they should not be taken
away except as a result of due process based on specific circumstances.[3]
“Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality,
ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. Human rights include the right to life and liberty,
freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education,
and many more.”

Every individual has dignity. The principles of human rights were drawn up by human
beings as a way of ensuring that the dignity of everyone is properly and equally respected, that
is, to ensure that a human being will be able to fully develop and use human qualities such as
intelligence, talent and conscience and satisfy his or her spiritual and other needs. Dignity gives
an individual a sense of value and worth. The existence of human rights demonstrates that
human beings are aware of each other’s worth. Human dignity is not an individual, exclusive
and isolated sense. It is a part of our common humanity. Human rights enable us to respect
each other and live with each other. In other words, they are not only rights to be requested or
demanded but rights to be respected and be responsible for. The rights that apply to you also
apply to others. The denial of human rights and fundamental freedoms not only is an individual
and personal tragedy, but also creates conditions of social and political unrest, sowing the
seeds of violence and conflict within and between societies and nations.

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History of Human Rights

The concept of human rights has, in some sense, existed for centuries, although
peoples have not always thought of universal human rights in the same way humans do today.[13]
[15][16][17]

Among the oldest evidence of human rights is the Cyrus Cylinder dated from 6th Century BCE,
it had rights like no slavery, worship of your own religion, and racial equality.[18]
The true forerunner of human rights discourse was the concept of natural rights which appeared
as part of the medieval natural law tradition. This tradition was heavily influenced by the
writings of St Paul's early Christian thinkers such as St Hilary of Poitiers, St Ambrose, and St
Augustine.[19] Augustine was among the earliest to examine the legitimacy of the laws of man,
and attempt to define the boundaries of what laws and rights occur naturally based on wisdom
and conscience, instead of being arbitrarily imposed by mortals, and if people are obligated to
obey laws that are unjust.[20]
This medieval tradition became prominent during the European Enlightenment. From this
foundation, the modern human rights arguments emerged over the latter half of the 20th century.
[14]

Magna Carta is an English charter originally issued in 1215 which influenced the development
of the common law and many later constitutional documents related to human rights, such as the
1689 English Bill of Rights, the 1789 United States Constitution, and the 1791 United States Bill
of Rights.[21]
17th century English philosopher John Locke discussed natural rights in his work, identifying
them as being "life, liberty, and estate (property)", and argued that such fundamental rights could
not be surrendered in the social contract. In Britain in 1689, the English Bill of Rights and the
Scottish Claim of Right each made a range of oppressive governmental actions, illegal.[22] Two
major revolutions occurred during the 18th century, in the United States (1776) and in France
(1789), leading to the United States Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration of
the Rights of Man and of the Citizen respectively, both of which articulated certain human rights.
Additionally, the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776 encoded into law a number of
fundamental civil rights and civil freedoms.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit
of Happiness.
— United States Declaration of Independence, 1776

1800 to World War I

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Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen approved by the

National Assembly of France, 26 August 1789
Philosophers such as Thomas Paine, John Stuart Mill, and Hegel expanded on the theme
of universality during the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1831, William Lloyd Garrison wrote in a
newspaper called The Liberator that he was trying to enlist his readers in "the great cause of
human rights",[23] so the term human rights probably came into use sometime between
Paine's The Rights of Man and Garrison's publication. In 1849 a contemporary, Henry David
Thoreau, wrote about human rights in his treatise On the Duty of Civil Disobedience which was
later influential on human rights and civil rights thinkers. United States Supreme Court Justice
David Davis, in his 1867 opinion for Ex Parte Milligan, wrote "By the protection of the law,
human rights are secured; withdraw that protection and they are at the mercy of wicked rulers or
the clamor of an excited people."[24]
Many groups and movements have managed to achieve profound social changes over the course
of the 20th century in the name of human rights. In Western Europe and North America, labour
unions brought about laws granting workers the right to strike, establishing minimum work
conditions and forbidding or regulating child labour. The women's rights movement succeeded in
gaining for many women the right to vote. National liberation movements in many countries
succeeded in driving out colonial powers. One of the most influential was Mahatma Gandhi's
leadership of the Indian independence movement. Movements by long-oppressed racial and
religious minorities succeeded in many parts of the world, among them the civil rights
movement, and more recent diverse identity politics movements, on behalf of women and
minorities in the United States.[25]
The foundation of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the 1864 Lieber Code and the
first of the Geneva Conventions in 1864 laid the foundations of International humanitarian law,
to be further developed following the two World Wars.
Between World War I and World War II
The League of Nations was established in 1919 at the negotiations over the Treaty of
Versailles following the end of World War I. The League's goals included disarmament,
preventing war through collective security, settling disputes between countries through
negotiation, diplomacy and improving global welfare. Enshrined in its Charter was a mandate to
promote many of the rights which were later included in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.
The League of Nations had mandates to support many of the former colonies of the Western
European colonial powers during their transition from colony to independent state.

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Established as an agency of the League of Nations, and now part of United Nations,
the International Labour Organization also had a mandate to promote and safeguard certain of
the rights later included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR):
the primary goal of the ILO today is to promote opportunities for women and men to obtain
decent and productive work, in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity.
— Report by the Director General for the International Labour Conference 87th Session
After World War II
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Main article: Universal Declaration of Human Rights

"It is not a treaty... [In the future, it] may well become the
[26]
international Magna Carta." Eleanor Roosevelt with the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights in 1949.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a non-binding declaration adopted by
the United Nations General Assembly in 1948,[27] partly in response to the events of World War
II. The UDHR urges member states to promote a number of human, civil, economic and social
rights, asserting these rights are part of the "foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the
world". The declaration was the first international legal effort to limit the behavior of states and
make sure they did their duties to their citizens following the model of the rights-duty duality.
... recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of
the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world
— Preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948
The UDHR was framed by members of the Human Rights Commission, with Eleanor
Roosevelt as chair, who began to discuss an International Bill of Rights in 1947. The members of
the Commission did not immediately agree on the form of such a bill of rights, and whether, or
how, it should be enforced. The Commission proceeded to frame the UDHR and accompanying
treaties, but the UDHR quickly became the priority.[28] Canadian law professor John
Humprey and French lawyer René Cassin were responsible for much of the cross-national
research and the structure of the document respectively, where the articles of the declaration
were interpretative of the general principle of the preamble. The document was structured by
Cassin to include the basic principles of dignity, liberty, equality and brotherhood in the first two
articles, followed successively by rights pertaining to individuals; rights of individuals in relation
to each other and to groups; spiritual, public and political rights; and economic, social and
cultural rights. The final three articles place, according to Cassin, rights in the context of limits,
duties and the social and political order in which they are to be realized.[28] Humphrey and Cassin

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intended the rights in the UDHR to be legally enforceable through some means, as is reflected in
the third clause of the preamble:[28]
Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to
rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of
law.
— Preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948
Some of the UDHR was researched and written by a committee of international experts on
human rights, including representatives from all continents and all major religions, and drawing
on consultation with leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi.[29] The inclusion of both civil and political
rights and economic, social and cultural rights[28][30] was predicated on the assumption that basic
human rights are indivisible and that the different types of rights listed are inextricably linked.
Though this principle was not opposed by any member states at the time of adoption (the
declaration was adopted unanimously, with the abstention of the Soviet bloc, Apartheid South
Africa and Saudi Arabia), this principle was later subject to significant challenges.[30]
On the issue of "universal", the declarations did not apply to domestic discrimination or racism.
[31]
Henry J. Richardson III has argued:[32]
All major governments at the time of drafting the U.N. charter and the Universal
declaration did their best to ensure, by all means known to domestic and international
law, that these principles had only international application and carried no legal
obligation on those governments to be implemented domestically. All tacitly realized that
for their own discriminated-against minorities to acquire leverage on the basis of legally
being able to claim enforcement of these wide-reaching rights would create pressures that
would be political dynamite.
The onset of the Cold War soon after the UDHR was conceived brought to the fore divisions
over the inclusion of both economic and social rights and civil and political rights in the
declaration. Capitalist states tended to place strong emphasis on civil and political rights
(such as freedom of association and expression), and were reluctant to include economic and
social rights (such as the right to work and the right to join a union). Socialist states placed
much greater importance on economic and social rights and argued strongly for their
inclusion.[33]
Because of the divisions over which rights to include, and because some states declined to
ratify any treaties including certain specific interpretations of human rights, and despite the
Soviet bloc and a number of developing countries arguing strongly for the inclusion of all
rights in a so-called Unity Resolution, the rights enshrined in the UDHR were split into two
separate covenants, allowing states to adopt some rights and derogate others. Though this
allowed the covenants to be created, it denied the proposed principle that all rights are linked
which was central to some interpretations of the UDHR.[33][34]
Although the UDHR is a non-binding resolution, it is now considered to be a central
component of international customary law which may be invoked under appropriate
circumstances by state judiciaries and other judiciaries.[35]
Human Rights Treaties
In 1966, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and
the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) were

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adopted by the United Nations, between them making the rights contained in the UDHR
binding on all states.[a] However, they came into force only in 1976, when they were ratified
by a sufficient number of countries (despite achieving the ICCPR, a covenant including no
economic or social rights, the US only ratified the ICCPR in 1992).[36] The ICESCR commits
155 state parties to work toward the granting of economic, social, and cultural rights (ESCR)
to individuals.
Numerous other treaties (pieces of legislation) have been offered at the international level.
They are generally known as human rights instruments. Some of the most significant are:

 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (adopted 1948,
entry into force: 1951) unhchr.ch
 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) (adopted
1966, entry into force: 1969) unhchr.ch
 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW) (entry into force: 1981) Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Discrimination against Women
 United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT) (adopted 1984, entry into force:
1984)[37]
 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) (adopted 1989, entry into force:
1989) Convention on the Rights of the Child | UNICEF Archived 26 April 2019 at
the Wayback Machine
 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and
Members of their Families (ICRMW) (adopted 1990)
 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) (entry into force: 2002)

Types of Human Rights

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Human rights encompass a wide range of rights and freedoms inherent to all individuals,
regardless of race, nationality, religion, gender, or any other status. Some common types of
human rights include:
Since 1948, the United Nations has been engaged in defining the international human
rights standards particularly in relation to specific issues. Examples of these human rights,
freedoms, rights and prohibitions related to human rights, are the following:3 In the area of
civil and political rights
• Right to life
• Freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
• Freedom from slavery, servitude and forced labour
• Right to liberty and security of person
• Right of detained persons to be treated with humanity
• Freedom of movement • Right to a fair trial
• Prohibition of retroactive criminal laws
• Right to recognition as a person before the law
• Right to privacy
• Freedom of thought, conscience and religion
• Freedom of opinion and expression
• Prohibition of propaganda for war and of incitement to national, racial or religious
hatred
• Freedom of assembly
• Freedom of association
• Right to marry and found a family
• Right to take part in the conduct of public affairs, vote, be elected and have access to
public office
• Right to equality before the law and non-discrimination. In the area of economic,
social and cultural rights
• Right to work

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• Right to just and favourable conditions of work • Right to form and join trade unions •
Right to social security
• Protection of the family • Right to an adequate standard of living, including adequate
food, clothing and housing

Human Rights Violation and Abuse

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Extrajudicial Killings
Marcos has not ended Duterte’s “drug war.” Law enforcement officers and their
agents continue to conduct raids using the former president’s orders as
justification. The official “drug war” death toll from July 1, 2016, to May 31,
2022, is 6,252; unidentified gunmen murdered thousands more. The Philippine
government has not updated its statistics since May 2022.
While the killings have significantly dropped overall since Marcos took office on
June 30, 2022, they have continued. According to monitoring by the University of
the Philippines Third World Studies Center, more drug-related killings
occurred in the first year of the Marcos administration than in the Duterte
administration’s final year. As of November 15, 471 people have been killed in
drug-related violence under Marcos, perpetrated both by law enforcers and
unidentified assailants. Most of these cases, as with the previous ones, remain
uninvestigated. In Davao City, a hotspot of drug-related killings according to the
University of the Philippines’ data, police have perpetrated most killings.
Many extrajudicial killings have taken place in the context of political violence,
particularly linked to elections. On March 4, ex-military men stormed the
residence of Negros Oriental governor Roel Degamo and killed him and nine
others. A political rival has been implicated in the massacre, which is the worst
incident of political violence in the Philippines since the Maguindanao
Massacre in 2009.
Journalists have also been targeted, with 4 killed so far under Marcos, bringing
the death toll since 1986, when democracy was restored, up to 177. The latest
fatality reported was Cresenciano Bunduquin, a broadcaster in Oriental Mindoro
province who was gunned down on May 31. The killing in October 2022 of
popular radio commentator Percy Mabasa remains unsolved.
Insurgency-related killings have noticeably worsened, particularly on the island of
Negros, which has long been a hotbed of the communist movement. In June,
a couple and their two children were killed by gunmen in Negros Occidental;
relatives and witnesses said the military had earlier accused the couple of working
for the communist New People’s Army (NPA).
The security forces have also killed children during operations. In August, police
shot dead Jemboy Baltazar, 17; witnesses alleged the police claimed Baltazar had
illegal drugs to justify the shooting. Also in August, a police officer shot
dead John Frances Ompad, also 17.

Attacks on Activists, Unionists, and Journalists

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Incidents of “red-tagging” by the authorities and government supporters and pro-

government media continued. Getting red-tagged is often a prelude to physical
attack, raising fears among activists and constricting democratic space.
Government actors have red-tagged activists, unionists, environment defenders,
Indigenous leaders, teachers, students, and journalists.
In May, the hosts of a pro-government TV program accused the National Union
of Journalists of the Philippines and its chair, Jonathan de Santos, of working with
communist insurgents. In June, several activists and environmental defenders in
the northern Philippines sought protection from the Supreme Court after they
were red-tagged by the military and the police. Some victims of red-tagging are
bringing lawsuits in response: In July, Carol Araullo, a longtime leftist
activist, sued the hosts of a pro-government TV show for red-tagging her and her
family. In September, her son, journalist Atom Araullo, also brought a case.
In some cases, the red-tagging has turned into “terrorist”-tagging, with the
government using the country’s harsh and overbroad Anti-Terror Act
to target civil society organizations, accusing them of terrorist financing. In
September, the military filed a complaint against CERNET, a nongovernmental
organization (NGO) in the central Philippines, for allegedly providing funds to the
New People’s Army, a charge the group denied.

The targeting of unions and labor activists was the focus of a high-level
mission of the International Labour Organization in January. The mission
denounced red-tagging and other forms of harassment against trade unionists. In
April, President Marcos signed Executive Order 23, which promises protection to
workers and respect for their right to organize.
There was some good news, however. Former senator Leila de Lima, a prominent
political prisoner and staunch human rights activist, was released in November
after a court granted her bail in the last drug case filed against her by the Duterte
administration. She was arrested and detained nearly seven years ago on bogus
drug charges. In September, a Manila court acquitted Nobel Peace Prize laureate
and Rappler CEO Maria Ressa of tax evasion charges, leaving two cases pending
in courts against her and her colleagues.

Enforced Disappearances
Enforced disappearances remain a persistent human rights violation in the
Philippines. Two infamous enforced disappearance cases—of peasant activist

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Jonas Burgos in 2007 and two University of the Philippines students, Karen
Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan, in 2006—remain unresolved.
In January, labor rights activists Dyan Gumanao and Armand Dayoha were
abducted in broad daylight at a port in Cebu City. They surfaced a few days later
and accused the police of kidnapping them and mistreating them.
In April, activists Gene Roz Jamil “Bazoo” de Jesus and Dexter Capuyan were
allegedly abducted by government operatives in Taytay, just southeast of Manila.
They remain missing.
In September, two environmental activists, Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano, went
missing. The government later publicly presented them and claimed that they
were NPA fighters who had surrendered. But the two activists, during
a government-organized press conference, said that the military had abducted
them.
Key International Actors
Despite ongoing serious abuses and the lack of accountability, the Philippines
continue to benefit from the European Union’s Generalised Scheme of
Preferences Plus (GSP+), which grants tariff preferences for exports to the EU
market conditioned on the country’s compliance with 27 rights conventions.
In an April visit to Manila, EU Special Representative for Human Rights Eamon
Gilmore highlighted shortcomings in the Philippines’ compliance with its GSP+
human rights obligations and stressed that “doing business with the EU means
addressing human rights issues.” Members of the European Parliament also
remained highly critical of the Philippines’ rights record and questioned its
eligibility for the GSP+ program.
In August, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited Manila and
praised the Marcos administration for “improving” the human rights situation in
the country. Von der Leyen announced the resumption of negotiations for a
bilateral free trade agreement, which had been frozen under Duterte due to human
rights abuses. In November, the EU released a report on the human rights
situation in the Philippines, as required under the GSP+ program,
which highlighted major rights shortcomings and emphasized the need for
progress.
The UN Joint Program (UNJP), created in 2020, has continued to build the
capacity of accountability mechanisms in the country. Although it has trained law
enforcement officers on proper methods to investigate rights abuses, particularly
extrajudicial killings, the UNJP has had little impact because of the Covid-19
pandemic and initial lack of cooperation from the Philippine government.

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The UNJP’s mandate will end in July 2024. If extended, the program needs
monitoring and reporting mechanisms.
After eight years of negotiations, in April, the United States Biden administration
signed an enhanced cooperation agreement with the Philippines to fund and
provide rapid support to respond to humanitarian, climate, and “other shared
challenges.” In October, the US and the Philippines held two weeks of military
exercises amid rising tensions with China over the territory of the South China
Sea.

Legal Documents and Peace Alternatives

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Several legal documents and peace alternatives exist to protect and promote human rights
globally.
: 1. Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR): Adopted by the United
Nations General Assembly in 1948, the UDHR is a foundational document that
sets out the basic human rights to be universally protected. It has served as the
inspiration for many other international and regional human rights instruments.
2. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR): Adopted in
1966, the ICCPR is a legally binding treaty that aims to protect civil and political
rights, including the rights to life, freedom of speech, assembly, and religion, as
well as the right to a fair trial.
3. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR):
Also adopted in 1966, the ICESCR is a legally binding treaty that focuses on
economic, social, and cultural rights, including the rights to work, education,
health, and an adequate standard of living.
4. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW): Adopted in 1979, CEDAW is an international treaty that aims to
eliminate discrimination against women in all areas of life, including political,
economic, social, cultural, and civil rights.
5. Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC): Adopted in 1989, the CRC is an
international treaty that sets out the civil, political, economic, social, and cultural
rights of children. It is the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history.
6. Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC): Adopted in 1998, the
Rome Statute established the ICC, the first permanent international court with
jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, war
crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression.
7. Peace Treaties and Agreements: In addition to legal documents, peace treaties
and agreements negotiated between conflicting parties often include provisions
related to human rights, such as commitments to respect human rights, promote
reconciliation, and ensure justice for victims of human rights abuses.
These legal documents and peace alternatives play a crucial role in upholding human
rights, promoting peace, and holding perpetrators of human rights violations accountable
for their actions.

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References
 https://www.liberties.eu/en/stories/human-rights-definition/43935
 https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2024/country-chapters/
philippines#:~:text=The%20human%20rights%20situation%20in,%2Dyear
%2Dold%20communist%20insurgency.
 https://www.hurights.or.jp/archives/focus/section2/2003/09/the-
comprehensive-agreement-on-human-rights-and-international-
humanitarian-law-a-document-of-peace-and-human-rights.html
 https://www.hurights.or.jp/archives/other_publications/section1/pdf/
Principles%2C%20Rights%2C%20Duty%20and%20Pedagogy.pdf
 http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/edumat/hreduseries/hrhandbook/part1A.html

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