HUMAN RIGHTS

Learning Objective:

 Defining Human Rights?

 Understanding the nature and evolution of Human Rights

Concepts:

 Equality
 Justice
 Liberty

Theories un Global Politics:

 Universalism
 Idealism
 Relativism
Questions to ponder about:

 Liberty and Equality are the two main concepts of Human Rights. How would we know if
individuals and societies possess liberty or are in a state of equality?
 How can we relate the concepts of liberty and equality to human rights? How are these
concepts related or, perhaps, interdependent?
 How can the concepts of human rights, liberty and equality, be related to the concept
of power?

Key Issues to be addressed:

 What are Human Rights and on what basis can they be claimed?
 How effectively have international human rights been protected?
 On what grounds has the doctrine of human rights been criticized?
 Under what circumstances is it right to intervene in the human rights of a nation?
 Why has humanitarian intervention been criticized?
Human Rights are which people are entitled to by virtue of being human. They are
indivisible and fundamental in nature to include political, social, economic and cultural
rights.

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. Everyone is entitled to these rights, without
discrimination.

The proto type of modern human rights evolved from “Natural Rights” in Europe. It is the
belief that natural rights are ‘God Given” and are fundamental to humans and therefore
are inalienable (cannot be taken away).

According to Hugo Grotius and Thomas Hobbes natural rights reflected the most
fundamental human drive and were basic conditions for leading a truly human existence.
In Hugo Grotius' understanding, nature was not an entity in itself, but God's creation. Therefore, his
concept of natural law had a theological foundation. Natural law is a theory in ethics and philosophy
that says that human beings possess intrinsic values that govern their reasoning and behavior.
Natural law maintains that these rules of right and wrong are inherent in people.

Grotius championed a natural law philosophy which derived from the “higher law” doctrine of
Marcus Tullius Cicero and other ancient Roman and Greek philosophers. They believed the
legitimacy of government laws must be judged by standards of justice – natural law. “Now the Law
of Nature is so unalterable, that it cannot be changed even by God himself. For although the power
of God is infinite, yet there are some things, to which it does not extend.”

Natural law, Grotius maintained, is the basis of natural rights: “Civilians call a faculty that Right,
which every man has to his own…This right comprehends the power, that we have over ourselves,
which is called liberty…It likewise comprehends property…Now any thing is unjust, which is
repugnant to the nature of society, established among rational creatures. Thus for instance, to
deprive another of what belongs to him, merely for one’s own advantage, is repugnant to the law of
nature.”
According to Hobbes’ “state of nature”, with the absence of a social contract and a sovereign leader, all
that men have in common is the “continual fear and danger of violent death” and the condition of “war
of every man against every man”

Hobbes believes that in the state of nature: “Nothing can be unjust. The notions of right and wrong,
justice and injustice, have no place. Where there is no common power, there is no law; where no law,
no injustice.”

Natural law only comes into existence when men reach a point of agreement through rational
calculation that this is in their own self-interest, as conditions in the state of nature are so bad that
“every man has a right to everything, even to one another’s body”.

Natural Rights or Natural Law was first propagated by Aristotle and Plato who loosely based it on the
principle ‘do good and avoid evil’. Natural Rights to a large extent focused on religion and philosophy
until the concept of ‘humanitarianism’ took over Europe.

Humanitarianism is an active belief in the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent
treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of
humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotional reasons.
Humanitarian ethics help inspire the abolishing the slave trade endorsed by the Congress of
Vienna with slavery formally outlawed by the Slavery Convention in 1926. This does not mean
that forms of slavery do not exist. They exist in the form of bonded labour, child labour,
trafficking of women and children and forced marriage.

The Anti-Slavery Society formed in 1837 is considered the first organisation that championed
the caused of human rights.

Other causes that were taken up as part of human rights were the safe conduct of people during
war, regulations on the conduct of POW, working conditions through the International Labour
Organisation formed as part of the Treaty of Versailles.

All of these regulations became focussed and universal with the adoption of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights by outlining a comprehensive code adopted by national and
international conventions.

This was also keeping in mind the horrors of the ‘Final Solution’ during World War II.
The origin of human rights can be traced back to the Declaration of the Rights of Man in 1789. Some of
the articles include:

1. Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the
general good.

2. The aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of
man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.

3. The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. No body nor individual may exercise
any authority which does not proceed directly from the nation.

4. Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else; hence the exercise of the
natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the society
the enjoyment of the same rights. These limits can only be determined by law.

5. Law can only prohibit such actions as are hurtful to society. Nothing may be prevented which is not
forbidden by law, and no one may be forced to do anything not provided for by law.
6. Law is the expression of the general will. Every citizen has a right to participate personally, or
through his representative, in its foundation. It must be the same for all, whether it protects or
punishes. All citizens, being equal in the eyes of the law, are equally eligible to all dignities and to
all public positions and occupations, according to their abilities, and without distinction except
that of their virtues and talents.

7. No person shall be accused, arrested, or imprisoned except in the cases and according to the
forms prescribed by law. Any one soliciting, transmitting, executing, or causing to be executed, any
arbitrary order, shall be punished. But any citizen summoned or arrested in virtue of the law shall
submit without delay, as resistance constitutes an offense.

8. The law shall provide for such punishments only as are strictly and obviously necessary, and no
one shall suffer punishment except it be legally inflicted in virtue of a law passed and promulgated
before the commission of the offense.

9. As all persons are held innocent until they shall have been declared guilty, if arrest shall be
deemed indispensable, all harshness not essential to the securing of the prisoner's person shall be
severely repressed by law.
Nature and types of Human Rights

A right is an entitlement to act or be treated in a particular manner without discrimination.

Rights automatically imply duties. The claim to a right imposes obligations to oneself and to
others. Human Rights are rights that are applied to everyone by virtue of being human and
are therefore universal in nature. This leads to universalism, the belief that it is possible to
uncover certain values and principles applicable to all peoples and societies irrespective of
historical or cultural differences.

Rights are classified as positive and negative rights. They are further classified as political,
civil, economic, social and cultural rights.

Positive Rights are rights that can be provided by the government such as food, education,
medical care and life. They are obligations of the government and provided to everyone.

Negative Rights also known as ‘forbearance’ are enjoyed only through constraints on the
rights of others. Most often these include freedom from the interference of the state. It
allows individuals to enjoys certain freedoms in a personal space.
Civil rights are an essential component of democracy. They're guarantees of equal social
opportunities and protection under the law, regardless of race, religion, or other
characteristics. Examples are the rights to vote, to a fair trial, to government services, and
to a public education.

Political rights refer to an individual's ability to participate in the civil and political life of
the society and state without fear of discrimination or repression, and is tied closely to
citizenship status. Political rights ensure equality before law nd that the law is the same for
everyone.

Economic social and cultural rights (ESCR) include the rights to adequate food, to adequate
housing, to education, to health, to social security, to take part in cultural life, to water and
sanitation, and to work. Economic, social, and cultural rights are the freedoms,
privileges, and entitlements that individuals and communities require to live a life of
dignity. These human rights include the rights to food, housing, health, education,
cultural identity, and more.