Civil and political rights

Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations and private individuals, and which ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the society and state without discrimination or repression.

Civil rights include the ensuring of peoples' physical and mental integrity, life and safety; protection from discrimination on grounds such as race, gender, national origin, colour, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, or disability; and individual rights such as privacy, the freedoms of thought and conscience, speech and expression, religion, the press, assembly and movement.

Political rights include natural justice (procedural fairness) in law, such as the rights of the accused, including the right to a fair trial; due process; the right to seek redress or a legal remedy; and rights of participation in civil society and politics such as freedom of association, the right to assemble, the right to petition, the right of self-defense, and the right to vote.

Civil rights (disambiguation)

Civil rights may refer to several different things:

  • Civil rights movement, the social movement in the United States
  • Civil and political rights are a class of rights ensuring things such as the protection of peoples' physical integrity; procedural fairness in law; protection from discrimination based on gender, religion, race, sexual orientation, etc.; individual freedom of belief, speech, association, and the press; and political participation
  • Legal rights are rights that are bestowed by nations on those within their jurisdiction; they are sometimes also called civil rights in common law jurisdictions. Contrast with natural rights or human rights, which many scholars claim that individuals have by nature of being born
  • Civil rights, in civil law jurisdictions, are rights or powers which can be exercised under civil law, which includes things such as the ability to contract. In civil law jurisdictions, lawsuits between private parties for things such as breach of contract or a tort are usually expressed in terms of infringement of a civil right
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    Latest News for: civil rights

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    Trump moves to repeal disparate impact liability, a key civil rights tenet

    The Hill 24 Apr 2025
    President Trump has taken steps to nullify a key component to the Civil Rights Act as he works to remove diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies from the federal government ... But civil rights ...
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    Trump upends DOJ's Civil Rights Division, sparking 'bloodbath' in senior ranks

    NBC News 24 Apr 2025
    More than a dozen senior lawyers in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division – many with decades of experience – have been reassigned ... .
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    Trump upends DOJ's Civil Rights Division, sparking ‘bloodbath' in senior ranks

    NBC Washington 24 Apr 2025
    Trump's hand-picked head of the division has outlined priorities that are dramatically at odds with the way past administrations have enforced civil rights law ... .
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    DOJ's new take on civil rights and students meet in secret to stage a protest ...

    NBC News 24 Apr 2025
    President Donald Trump takes the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division in an unfamiliar, concerning direction, according to current and former employees ... .
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    'Employees shell-shocked': Ex-insider sounds alarm as Trump disarms 'crown jewel' of DOJ

    Raw Story 24 Apr 2025
    In the first weeks of her tenure, Attorney General Bondi directed the Civil Rights Division to use its resources to write a memo “containing recommendations for enforcing federal civil-rights laws and ...
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    Evolving family structure prompts inheritance reform

    Ekathimerini 24 Apr 2025
    The committee is examining key issues such as inheritance rights in the absence of a will (intestate succession). One major proposal is to grant surviving partners in civil unions the same inheritance rights as married spouses when no will exists.
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    California fights U.S. threat to end school funding over diversity

    LA Daily News 24 Apr 2025
    Title VI is part of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that bars discrimination based on race, color or national origin ... following federal civil rights laws and ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
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    Defending religious freedom: The case of Summit Church vs. Chatham County

    Chatham Journal 24 Apr 2025
    The Civil Rights Division filed the statement in the U.S ... Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Civil Rights Division is committed to defending religious liberties as our founders intended and as federal law requires.”.
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    Why Harvard’s Lawsuit Matters — For All of Us

    The Harvard Crimson 24 Apr 2025
    These conditions went far beyond any legally authorized enforcement of civil rights protections ... Not even because of a formal finding of discrimination under federal civil rights law ... It is a political move dressed up as civil rights enforcement.
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    Trump Moves to Expose MLK Files \u2014 Critics Warn of Smear Campaign

    Houston Forward Times 24 Apr 2025
    Teressa Raiford, a civil rights activist, has pointed out that the FBI “understood that the civil rights movement was winning people’s hearts and minds through the circulation of photographs and ...
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    Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump’s push to end DEI in K-12 public schools

    Times Union 24 Apr 2025
    Earlier this month, the department ordered states to gather signatures from local school systems certifying compliance with civil rights laws, including the rejection of what the federal government calls “illegal DEI practices.”.
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    UAE: How to exit a company and transfer your shares as a partner

    Gulf News 24 Apr 2025
    Regarding your rights and dues, and since your contract is not registered with the Ministry of Labour, then you have to file a case in front of the civil court against the company to recover them in ...
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    Trump signs order setting new rules for college accreditation process

    WCPO 24 Apr 2025
    Under the order, the Secretary of Education will hold accreditors "accountable," including by suspending or terminating their credentials in cases of "poor performance or violations of federal civil rights law.".
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