Human Rights
What Are Human 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.
International Human Rights Law
International human rights law lays down the obligations of Governments One of the great achievements of the United Nations is the creation of a
to act in certain ways or to refrain from certain acts, in order to promote comprehensive body of human rights law—a universal and internationally
and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms of individuals or protected code to which all nations can subscribe and all people aspire. The
groups. United Nations has defined a broad range of internationally accepted rights,
including civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. It has also
established mechanisms to promote and protect these rights and to assist
states in carrying out their responsibilities.
• The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights entered into force in 1976. The human rights that the Covenant
seeks to promote and protect include:
• the right to work in just and favourable conditions;
• the right to social protection, to an adequate standard of living and to
Economic, the highest attainable standards of physical and mental well-being;
• the right to education and the enjoyment of benefits of cultural
social and freedom and scientific progress.
cultural rights
Civil and political rights
The Covenant deals with such rights as freedom of
movement; equality before the law; the right to a fair
trial and presumption of innocence; freedom of
thought, conscience and religion; freedom of opinion
The International Covenant on Civil and Political and expression; peaceful assembly; freedom of
Rights and its First Optional Protocol entered into force association; participation in public affairs and elections;
in 1976. The Second Optional Protocol was adopted in and protection of minority rights. It prohibits arbitrary
1989. deprivation of life; torture, cruel or degrading treatment
or punishment; slavery and forced labour; arbitrary
arrest or detention; arbitrary interference with privacy;
war propaganda; discrimination; and advocacy of racial
or religious hatred.
• Universality and inalienability
• Human rights are universal and inalienable. All people
everywhere in the world are entitled to them. No one
can voluntarily give them up. Nor can others take them away
from him or her.
•
Indivisibility
• Human rights are indivisible. Whether civil, political,
economic, social or cultural in nature, they are all inherent to
the dignity of every human person. Consequently, they all
have equal status as rights. There is no such thing as a 'small'
right. There is no hierarchy of human rights.
•
Inter-dependence and inter-relatedness
• The realization of one right often depends, wholly or in part,
upon the realization of others. For instance, the realization of
the right to health may depend on the realization of the right
to education or of the right to information.
The Human Rights Council, established on 15 March 2006 by the
General Assembly and reporting directly to it, replaced the 60-year-
old UN Commission on Human Rights as the key UN intergovernmental
body responsible for human rights. The Council is made up of 47 State
representatives and is tasked with strengthening the promotion and
protection of human rights around the globe by addressing situations
• Human of human rights violations and making recommendations on them,
including responding to human rights emergencies.
Rights Council
The most innovative feature of the Human Rights Council is
the Universal Periodic Review. This unique mechanism involves a
review of the human rights records of all 193 UN member states once
every four years. The Review is a cooperative, state-driven process,
under the auspices of the Council, which provides the opportunity for
each state to present measures taken and challenges to be met
to improve the human rights situation in their country and to meet
their international obligations. The Review is designed to ensure
universality and equality of treatment for every country.
• Equality and non-discrimination
• All individuals are equal as human beings and by virtue of the inherent dignity of
each human person. All human beings are entitled to their human rights without
discrimination of any kind, such as race, color, sex, ethnicity, age, language, religion,
political or other opinion, national or social origin, disability, property, birth or other
status as explained by the human rights treaty bodies.
•
Participation and inclusion
• Every person and all peoples are entitled to active, free and meaningful
participation in, contribution to, and enjoyment of civil, political, economic, social
and cultural development, through which human rights and fundamental freedoms
can be realized.
•
Accountability and rule of law
• States and other duty-bearers must comply with the legal norms and standards
enshrined in human rights instruments. Where they fail to do so, aggrieved rights-
holders are entitled to institute proceedings for appropriate redress before a
competent court or other adjudicator, in accordance with the rules and procedures
provided by law.
•
• Both rights and obligations
• All States have ratified at least 1 of the 9 core human rights
treaties, as well as 1 of the 9 optional protocols. Eighty per
cent of States have ratified 4 or more. This means that
States have obligations and duties under international law
to respect, protect and fulfill human rights.
• The obligation to respect means that States must refrain
from interfering with or curtailing the enjoyment of human
rights.
• The obligation to protect requires States to protect
individuals and groups against human rights abuses.
• The obligation to fulfill means that States must take
positive action to facilitate the enjoyment of basic human
rights.
• Meanwhile, as individuals, while we are entitled to our
human rights – but, we should also respect and stand
up for the human rights of others.
Made By:
Roll no: Class- Starex
Aarti
2332 B.Ed. University
Kumari
