ASSIGNMENT

What is the Meaning of Human Rights?

How These Rights are Classified and from Where These Rights Come From?

Name: Muhammad Ahmad

Roll No. BL5F18M40

LLB 5 Years Session 2018-23

Teacher: Mr. Khawaja Noman Sethi

Last Date of Submission: May 02, 2020

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 Table of Content

1- What is Human Rights.

 Definition.

2- History.

 1800 to World War I.

 Between World War I and World War II.

 After World War II.

3- CLASSIFICATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS.

 Classic and Social Rights.

 CIVIL, POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS.

4- The assumed contrast between civil and political rights, and economic, social and

cultural rights.

5- Other Classification.

 Freedom.

 Civil liberties

 Individual and collective rights.

6- References.

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What are Human Rights?

The term Human Rights is used to symbolize a wide scale of rights ranging from the right to

life to the right to a cultural identity. They contain all basic conditions for a good human

existence. These rights can be well-arranged and specified in several ways. In international

level, a difference has sometimes been made amongst civil and political rights on the one side

while the economic, social and cultural rights on the other side. This section explains the

difference. Since other classifications are also used in a way that these will similarly be

reviewed without claiming. However these classifications reflect an international consent. It

is also clear that the numerous categorizations overlap to a weighty range.

Definition:

Some definitions of human rights are as under.

‘’Human rights are rights that every human being has by virtue of his or her human dignity’’.

Human rights are rights which are given by nature to all human beings. They describe

interactions between persons and power structures, mainly the State. Human rights set the

limits of State power and at the same period, it needs States to take positive actions ensuring

an environment that allow all people to enjoy their basic human rights. 250 years ago it has

been shaped by the struggle to make such an environment. In the late eighteenth century

starting with the American and French revolutions, an idea of human rights has driven many

revolutionary movements for empowerment and for control over the wielders of power,

governments in specific.

Human rights are generally assumed as being those rights which are natural in the ordinary

fact of being human. The idea of human rights is based on the trust that each human being is

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allowed to enjoy her/his rights lacking the discrimination. Human rights vary from other

rights in two aspects. First, they are characterized by:

 Being essential to all human beings by virtue of their humanity. They do not have to

be purchased or to be granted.

 Being inalienable and equally applicable to all.

In the second, the central duties arising from human rights fall on states and their authorities

or agents not on persons. One of the most essential implication of these characteristics is that

human rights must themselves be protected by the rule of law. Moreover any clashes about

these rights should be submitted for adjudication through a experienced, fair and independent

tribunal applying procedures which certify full fairness and justice to all the parties and

determining the question according to clear, exact and pre-existing laws which are known to

the everyone and openly declared.

The concept of basic human rights created from the protection necessity of the individual

against the use of power of state. Initially it was focused on those rights which force

governments to refrain from certain actions against such individuals. In this category human

rights are commonly stated as basic freedoms. As rights of human are observed as a

precondition for leading a dignified human existence and they serve as a guide and standard

for making of law.

Examples:

On the basis of civil and political rights are as under.

 Right to life

 Right to freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or

punishment.

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  Right to freedom from slavery, servitude and forced labour.

 Right to liberty and security of person.

 Right of detained persons to be treated with humanity.

 Right to 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.

 Right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

 Right to freedom of opinion and expression.

 Right to Prevention of propaganda for war and of incitement to national, racial or

religious hatred.

 Right to freedom of assembly.

 Right to freedom of association.

 Right to marry and found a family.

 Right to take part in the conduct of public affairs.

HISTORY:

Peoples of ancient age did not have the modern concept of universal human rights. The true

sign of human rights discourse was the concept of natural rights which seemed as part of the

old-fashioned natural law custom that became prominent during the European Enlightenment.

From this groundwork the modern human rights arguments developed over the latter half of

the 20th century.

John Locke English philosopher of 17th century discussed natural rights in his work which

recognizing them as being "life, liberty, and estate " and said that such basic human rights

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could not be given in in the social contract. In 1689 in Britain, the Scottish Claim of

Right and the English Bill of Rights each made illegal range of unfair actions of government.

During the 18th century two main revolutions happened, 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

expressed certain human rights. Moreover, the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776 coded

into law a number of basic civil rights and civil freedoms. We hold these truths to that all

men are created equally that they are gifted by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights

among which these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

(Wikipedia)

1800 to World War I:

Philosophers like Thomas Paine, John Stuart Mill and Hegel extended the theme

of universality during the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1831 William Lloyd Garrison wrote in

The Liberator a newspaper that he was trying to making list of his readers in ‘’the great

cause of human rights’’ so the term human rights possibly came into use sometime between

Paine's The Rights of Man and Garrison's journal. In 1849 a contemporary Henry David

Thoreau wrote about human rights in his article On the Duty of Civil Disobedience which was

far along effective on human rights and civil rights intellectuals. Justice of United

States Supreme Court David Davis in his opinion of 1867 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.’’

In the name of human rights many groups and movements have succeeded to achieve deep

social changes over the course of the 20th century. Labour unions of Western Europe and

North America brought about laws which granting workers the rights to strike, establishing

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conditions of minimum work and forbidding child labour. The movement of women's

rights succeeded to achieve the right to vote for many women. Movement of National

liberation in several countries got ahead in driving out grand powers. One of the most

influential was the movement of Mahatma Gandhi to free his native India from the rule of

British. In many parts of the world movements by long oppressed racial and religious

minorities succeeded, from which the movement of civil rights and the most fresh diverse

movements of identity politics on behalf of women and minorities in the United States.

The foundation of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Lieber Code and the

first of the Geneva Conventions in 1864 created the foundations of International humanitarian

law. \further developed following the two World Wars.

Between World War I and World War II:

In 1919 at the discussions over the Treaty of Versailles following the end of World War I

the League of Nations was established. The goals of the League contained disarmament,

avoiding war through joint security, resolving disputes between countries through

negotiation, diplomacy and successful global welfare. Protected in its Charter was a mandate

to uphold many of the rights which were later included in the Universal Declaration of

Human Rights.

The League of Nations had mandates to support various of the former colonies of the

Western European colonial powers during their shifting from colony to independent state.

Recognized as an agency of the League of Nations and now part of United Nations,

the International Labour Organization also had a mandate to support and defense certain

rights included in the future in Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR):

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The main goal of the International Labour Organization today is to encourage opportunities

for women and men to get decent and fruitful work in conditions of freedom, fairness,

security and human dignity.

(Report by the Director General for the International Labour Conference 87th Session)

After World War II:

All the main governments at the time of enrolling the U.N. charter and the Universal

declaration did their best to certify, by all means known to local and international law that

these principles had only worldwide application and carried no legal responsibility on those

governments to be applied locally. All tacitly understood that for their own discriminated

against minorities to obtain power on the basis of legally being able to claim enforcement of

these wide reaching rights would make burdens that would be political dynamite.

CLASSIFICATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Classic and Social Rights:

Classic rights are frequently seen to require the non-intervention of the state (negative

obligation) and social rights often seen to require the active intervention of the state (positive

obligations). In other words classic rights need an obligation for the state to abstain from

certain actions while social rights help it to provide certain promises. Lawyers always define

classic rights in terms of a duty to attain a given obligation of result) and in terms of a duty

social rights are provide to the obligations of conduct. The growth of international law has

lead to this difference between classic and social rights becoming gradually awkward. Classic

rights such as civil and political rights always need significant investment by the state. The

state does not purely have the obligation to respect these rights but must also promise that

people can efficiently enjoy them. Hence the right to a fair trial requires the well trained

judges, prosecutors, lawyers, police officers as well as support of administration. Another

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On the other hand, many social rights comprise such elements that entail the state to refrain

from interfering with the exercise of the right of individual. For instance, numerous reviewers

note that the right to food contains the right for everyone to get their own food supply without

interfering of anyone, The right to housing means that the right not to be a victim of forced

ejection, The right to work implies the right of individual to choose his/her own work and

also entails the state not to hinder a person from working and to refrain from dealings that

would increase unemployment, The right to education encompasses the freedom to start and

direct educational establishments and the right to the highest achievable standard of health

entails the obligation not to interfere with the facility of health care.

Hence, the distinction of classic rights from social rights does not return the nature of the

responsibilities under each set of rights.

CIVIL, POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS

Civil rights:

The word civil rights is always used with reference to the rights set out in the first eighteen

articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, nearly all of which are also set out as

binding treaty norms in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. From this set

further set of physical truthfulness rights has been recognized and which are concern to right

to life, liberty and security of a person and which offer protection against the physical

violence, torture and inhuman treatment, arbitrary arrest, detention, exile, slavery and

servitude, interference with privacy of a person, right of ownership, restriction of a freedom

of movement of a person and the freedom of thought, conscience and religion. The variance

between the basic rights and physical truthfulness rights lies in the fact that the prior include

economic and social rights but do not contain rights such as ownership and protection of

privacy.

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Even though not firmly an integrity right, the right to equivalent treatment and protection in

law specifically qualifies as a civil right. Furthermore this right plays an important role in the

realization of cultural, social and economic rights. Another group of civil rights is referred to

under the joint term ‘due process rights’. These relate among other things to the right to a

open hearing by an independent and fair tribunal. The ‘presumption of innocence’ the ne bis

in idem principle (freedom from double threat) and legal assistance (visit Articles 9, 10, 14

and 15 ICCPR).

Political rights:

On the whole, Articles 19 to 21are those set out political rights in UDHR (Universal

Declaration of Human Rights) and also organized in the ICCPR (International Covenant on

Civil and Political Rights). They contain freedom of association, freedom of expression and

get-together, the right to participate in the government of a country and the right to vote and

stand for election at honest periodic elections held by secret ballot (see Articles 18, 19, 21, 22

and 25 ICCPR).

Economic and Social Rights:

In Articles 22 to 26 UDHR the economic and social rights are listed and more developed and

set out as binding contract norms in the ICESCR (International Covenant on Economic,

Social and Cultural Rights). These rights provide the conditions necessary for prosperity

and wellbeing. Economic rights refer, for example, to the right to property, the right to work,

which one freely chooses or accepts, the right to a fair wage, a reasonable limitation of

working hours, and trade union rights. Social rights are such rights which are essential for an

satisfactory standard of living and is including rights to health, social care, food, shelter and

the right to education (see Articles 6 to 14 ICESCR).

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Cultural rights:

In Articles 27 and 28 of UDHR there is list of cultural rights which include the right to take

part easily in the cultural life of the community, the right to participate in scientific

development and the right to the safeguard of the ethical and material interests resulting from

any scientific production. (See also Article 15 ICESCR and Article 27 ICCPR).

The assumed contrast between civil and political rights, and economic, social and

cultural rights:

Conventionally it has been claimed that there are basic variances between economic, social

and cultural rights, and civil and political rights. These two classes of rights have been seen

as two different thoughts and their differences have been characterized. According to this

sight, civil and political rights are considered to be stated in very specific language. Imposing

only negative obligations which do not need resources for their operation and which therefore

can be functional instantly. On the other side, economic, social and cultural rights are

considered to be stated in vague terms. Imposing only positive obligations restrictive on the

presence of resources and therefore involving an advanced realization.

As a result of these alleged variances, it has been said that civil and political rights are

justiciable whereas economic, social and cultural rights are not justiciable. In short, this

vision holds that only destructions of civil and political rights can be adjudicated by judicial

or similar bodies while by the nature of economic, social and cultural rights, they are non-

justiciable. Many years ago economic, social and cultural rights have been re-observed and

their juridical authority and applicability have been progressively more anxious. During the

last ten years, we have seen the improvement of a large and growing body of case law of

local courts related to economic, social and cultural rights. This case law at the international

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and national level suggests a possible role for creative and sensitive decisions of judicial and

quasi-judicial forms with respect to these rights.

Other Classification

Freedoms:

Qualifications for a gracious human existence have always been defined in terms of

freedoms.

For Example

Freedom of movement, freedom from arbitrary arrest and freedom from torture.

President of United States of America Franklin D. Roosevelt shortened these conditions in his

famous ‘Four Freedoms Speech’ to the Congress of United States on 26 January 1941:

 Freedom of expression and speech.

 Freedom of belief, the right of everyone to worship of God in his own style.

 Freedom from want, Economic understandings which will be safe and sound to every

nation for a healthy peace-time life for its inhabitants.

 Freedom from fear, international reduction of weapons to such a point and in such a

full fashion that no nation would be able to commit an act of physical violence against

any neighbour.

Roosevelt understood that a gracious human existence needs not only shelter from

harassment and uncertainty but also access to the main requirements of life.

Civil liberties:

The idea of ‘civil liberties’ is generally known, Since the 1920s mostly in the United States

where the American Civil Liberties Union, a non-governmental organization, has been

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active. Civil liberties refer mainly to those human rights which are laid down in the

Constitution of United States:

Freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of expression, freedom of association and

gathering protection against interfering of one’s secrecy, protection against torture, the right

to a fair trial and the right of workers. This classification does not correspond to the

distinction between civil and political rights.

Individual and collective rights:

Even though, the central purpose of human rights is the protection and development of the

individual’s rights. Some of these rights are applied by people in groups. Freedom of

assembly and association, freedom of religion and more specially the freedom to form or join

a union of a trade fall into this class. The joint element is even more evident when human

rights are connected specially to membership of a specific group such as the right of members

of ethnic and cultural minorities to protect their own culture and language. One must make a

difference between two types of rights which are generally called collective rights (individual

rights enjoyed in association with others, and the rights of a collective).

The most famous example of a collective human right is the right to self-determination,

which is observed as being vested in peoples rather than in person (See Articles 1 ICCPR and

ICESCR). The acknowledgment of the right to self-determination as a human right is

grounded in the fact that it is seen as a essential condition for the development of the

individual. It is usually recognized that collective rights have respect universally accepted the

right of individual such as the right to life and freedom from torture.

Bibliography:

I- A Basic Handbook for UN Staff

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  UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization)

 UDHR (Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

 ICCPR (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights)

 ICESCR (International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Right)

II- Human rights library of university of Minnesota

III- Icelandic Human Rights Center.

IV- Handbook for Parliamentarians N° 26

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 References

1- Icelandic Human Rights Center.

2- Wikipedia.

3- Human rights library of university of Minnesota.

4- Handbook for Parliamentarians N° 26.

5- A Basic Handbook for UN Staff.

THE END

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