Nature of Human Rights

DEFINITION:
 Human Rights – are the aggregate privileges, claims, benefits, entitlements, and moral
guarantees that pertain to man because of his humanity.
 Legal and moral entitlements that have evolved as a basis for constructing how state power is
used and particularly to limit its use against the rights of citizens.

Why man has right?

“The human person possess rights because of the fact that it is a person, a whole, master of
itself, and of its acts, and which consequently is not merely a means to an end, but an end which must
be treated as such.”
- Jean Jacques Maritain

“any human society, if it is to be well-ordered and productive, must lay down as a foundation,
this principle, namely, that every human being is a person, that is, his nature is endowed with
intelligence and full will. By virtue of this, he has rights and duties, flowing directly and
simultaneously from his very nature.”

- Pope John XXIII

KINDS:
1. The First Generation of Rights or the First Generation of Civil and Political Rights or the First
Generation of Liberty Rights- serve as a protection of the individuals from the arbitrary exercise
of police power.
These are civil and political rights which are seen as negative rights because they
prevent the state from the performance of certain things that are considered harmful.
Example:
right to life, liberty, and security of person; right against torture; right to equal protection
against any discrimination, right against arbitrary arrest and detention; freedom of opinion and
expression.

2. The Second Generation of Rights or the Second Generation of Economic, Social, and Cultural
Rights or the Second Generation of Equality Rights – rights which are started to recognize
when people realized that possession of the First Generation of Liberty Rights would be
valueless without the enjoyment of economic, social, and cultural rights.
Example:
Right to work, right to social security, right to form and to join trade unions, right to
education; right to health; right to shelter
 3. The Third Generation of Rights or The Third Generation of Solidarity Rights – is intended to
benefit individuals, groups, and peoples and its realization will need global cooperation based
on international solidarity.
Example:
Right to peace, right to development, environmental rights, rights of self-determination;
right to food, rights of women, rights of women; rights of children

PRINCIPLES:
1. Universality – rights belong to and to be enjoyed by every human beings without
distinction of any kind, such as race, color sex, language, religion, political and other
opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or stature.
- Human rights belong to everyone wherever they are because they are
human beings endowed with dignity.
2. Indivisibility and Inter-dependence – the first generation of liberty rights and the second
generation of equality rights are inter-related and are co-equal in importance. They form an
indivisible whole sand only if these rights are guaranteed that an individual can live
decently and in dignity.

“True, a hungry man does not have much freedom of choice. But equally true, when a well
fed man does not have freedom of choice, he cannot protect himself against going hungry.”

- Jose W. Diokno
CHARACTERISTICS
1. Inherent – means that rights are the birthright of all human beings, existing independently of
the will of either an individual human being or group.
- They are not obtained and granted through any human action, ot intervention, It
cannot be separated or detached from him.
2. Inalienable – means that no person can deprive any person these rights and no person can
repudiate those rights by himself.
- These rights cannot be the subject of commerce of man.
3. Universal – means that these rights belong to every human being, no matter what he or she,
is like. Because rights are universal, its promotion and protection are the duty of all States,
regardless of cultural, economic or political systems.

COMPONENTS
1. Subject or right-holder – is an individual (natural person) a group of individuals, or a non-
governmental organization entitled to rights under the law and can take legal action to protect
or to promote those rights
2. Duty-holder – an entity, normally a State that is obliged to respect, to ensure and to protect
the subject’s rights or demands.
3. Object – is the content of any given right and any duty of the holder of the right and the holder
of the obligation. This right and duty are the human values and needs.
 4. Implementation – is a set of measures, approaches, and initiatives designed to realize the
right concerned. This includes laws, administrative measures, legal writs and mechanisms
adopted by the three branches of government, namely, Congress, Executive, and Judiciary.

STAGES
1. Idealization – notion that human rights have started in the realm of ideas that reflect a
consciousness against oppression, dehumanization, or inadequate performance by the State.
2. Positivization – the second stage where support for the ideas become strong and the stage is
set to incorporate them into same legal instruments, whether domestic law or international
law
3. Realization – the last stage where these rights are enjoyed by the citizens of the State by the
transformation of the social, economic, and partial order

OBLIGATIONS of the STATE

1. Obligation to RESPECT
2. Obligation to ENSURE
3. Obligation to PROTECT

Sources and Foundations of Human Rights

1. The Constitutions of the Philippines

1. The 1897 Biak-na-Bato Constitution
2. The 1899 Malolos Constitution
3. The 1935 Constitution
4. The 1943 Constitution
5. The 1973 Constitution
6. The 1986 Freedom Constitution
7. The 1987 Constitution – sometimes called a Human Rights Constitution because of its
many human rights and human rights-related provisions

 The Commission on Human Rights (SEC. 18, Art. XIII)

TWO IMPORTANT FUNCTIONS:
A. To investigate human rights violation involving civil and political rights either
committed by the government or non-government entities
B. To establish a program of education and information to enhance respect for the
primacy of human rights

2. International Bill of Rights

Composed of
 - (a) Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
- (b) International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and
- (c) International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights

3. Philosophy
a. John Locke (Second Treaties of Government) – he argued that sovereignty resides. He
wrote that legitimate government is instituted by the covenant of the governed and
that this legitimate government is duty-bound to preserve the rights of life, liberty,
health, and property of its citizens; and to prosecute and punish those who violate
the rights of others and to pursue the public good.
b. Jean Jacques Rousseau (The Social Contract) – he postulated a social contract by
which the citizens surrender their tight to the “general will” of the people which must
aim at the impartial good.
c. Baron de Montesquieu (The Spirit of the Laws) – his magnum opus, to explain human
laws and institution. He saw despotism, “a single person directs everything by his
own will and caprice,” as a standing danger for any government not despotic and
argued that it could best be prevented by a system of separation of powers in which
different bodies exercise legislative, executive, and judicial powers.

4. Religion
- Embedded in the sacred scriptures and books of the world’s religions, the lessons
and teachings on human dignity, sanctity of life, worth of conscience, social
justice, respect for the integrity of creation, rights of prisoners, rights of persons
with disabilities,

Civil and Political Rights

(First Generation of Rights)

a. The Bill of Right in 1987 Constitution

- Is an enumeration of civil and political rights that are self-executing (no need of
implementing legislation) and serves as a restriction upon the powers of the State.

b. Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and

International Humanitarian Law
 - the first substantive agreement signed by the Negotiating Panels of the Government
of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front on March 16, 1998, in the
Hague, Netherlands.

c. Universal Declaration of Human Rights

- Art. 3 to Article 21 of the Declaration contains the catalogue of civil and political
rights of the first generation.

d. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

- adopted unanimously by 106 States and entered into force in 1976. Parts I-III (Art.
1-27) contain all substantive rights and some general provisions like prohibition of
discrimination and misuse, gender equality, a derogating and a saving clause.

Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights

(Second Generation of Rights)

a. Social Justice and Human Rights in The 1987 Constitution

- The article on Social Justice and Human Rights is an innovation in the 1987
Constitution.
- Social Justice is the centerpiece of the 1987 Constitution and rights, dignity,
and participation remain illusory without social justice.
b. Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- Has served as an inspirational tool for regional human rights instrument and
national constitutions.
c. International Covenant of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights
- This is the sister covenant of the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights.

Solidarity/Collective Rights
(Third Generation of Rights)

Peace, Development, Environment

- It is universally recognized that peoples of the earth have a sacred right to peace and
that the preservation of the right of peoples to peace and the promotion of its
implementation constitute a fundamental obligation of each state.
 - Right to development is another example of a solidarity/collective right.
- Development is a comprehensive economic, social, cultural, and political process
which aims at the constant improvement through their meaningful participation.
- Development is a process of expanding the freedom that people enjoy and requires
the removal of major sources of unfreedom like poverty, tyranny, poor economic
opportunities, systematic social deprivation, and neglect of public facilities,
intolerance or overactivity of repressive states.
Example:
1. Magna Carta for Women
2. IPRA
3. RA 9262 (Violence against Women and Children)
4. RA 7610 (Anti Child Abuse)

Remedies and Procedures for Responding to Human Rights Violations and

Human Rights Abuses

Human Rights Violations

- These are acts committed by or at the instigation of or with the consent of a
public official or other person acting in an official capacity contrary to human
rights law, causing bodily or mental pain or suffering or death. They occur
when State actors abuse or deny basic human rights.

Remedies
a. Domestic Remedies- may take the form of civil remedies, criminal remedies, and
administrative remedies.

PROCEDURE:
1. A human rights victim can file a civil action for damages in the trial court under
Art. 32 of the Civil Code. This may be proved only by a preponderance of evidence.
2. A human right victim may opt to file a complaint with the Commission on Human
Rights whose task is solely fact-finding investigation. After investigation, prosecution
will be handled by the Department of Justice until the case is resolved by the court.
3. Since human rights violations are crimes under the Revised Penal Code, a human
rights victim can file a criminal complaint direct to the Office of the Prosecutor.

b. Administrative Remedies – Under the Revised Administrative Code of 1987, heads

of the bureaus or office has the authority to discipline his employees.
 c. International Remedies – The international remedies for human rights violations
and human rights abuses are based on treaties and non-treaty procedures.
-Based on treaties, the mechanisms for the enforcement of human rights are
the reporting requirements to ensure State compliance with treaty
obligations, the investigation of communications, to determine breaches of
treaty obligations and the investigation, prosecution, and trial of human
rights violators under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

-Based on non-treaty procedures are the Public 1235 procedures, resolution

1235 and 1603 of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 1967 and
1979.

The International Criminal Court

-The Rome Statute is considered as one of the most ambitious international legal
initiatives in the history of the modern law and the ICC as the ICC as the important new
institution for human rights in the new century.
-ICC had the power to investigate, prosecute, and convict individuals, unlike the
International Court of Justice which deals only with States.
-ICC aims to address the problem of preventing human rights violators and criminals
who may have escaped from the national jurisdiction where they committed serious crimes,
namely, genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression.

Preventive Mechanisms in the Field of Human Rights

a. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

- is a United Nation is agency that works to promote and prevent the human rights
that are guaranteed under international law and stipulated in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights.

The High Commissioner had the following proactive and preventive

responsibilities:
1. Promoting and protecting the effective enjoyment by all of all civil, cultural,
economic, political, and social rights
2. Carrying out the tasks assigned to him/her by the competent bodies of the UN
system in the field of human rights and submitting recommendations to them,
with a view to improving the promotion and protection of all human rights;
3. Promoting and protecting the realization of the right to development;
 4. Providing, through the appropriate mechanisms and institutions, advisory services
and technical and financial assistance, at the request of the State concerned;
5. Coordinating relevant UN education and public information programmes in the
field of human rights.. XXX…

b. National Human Rights Institutions

- Is an organization that has been established by national governments with the
specific role of protecting and promoting human rights.
- “Paris Principles” – provide a minimum standards for an effective national
human rights institution.
STANDARDS
a. Independence
b. Broad human rights mandate
c. Adequate funding
d. An inclusive and transparent selection and appointment process

c. Non-Governmental Organization (NGOs)

- Civil society that has been in the forefront of the fight for liberty and
considered a pillar of democracy, the conscience of government and the
overseer of governmental actions.
- The NGOs are people’s organizations which are bona fide associations of
citizens with demonstrated capacity to promote the public interest and with
identifiable leadership, membership, and structure.

The Judiciary, the Academe, and the Family on Building a Human Rights
Culture

Human Rights Culture

- is a shared communitarian belief in the inherent dignity and of the equal and
inalienable rights of all members of the human family.
- Is a shared consensus that the dignity and worth of every human person can
be upheld and honored if the State and non-State actors undertake efforts and
initiatives to uphold and honor human rights.

Judiciary
 - Is the key player in the development of a human rights culture, through its
duty to settle controversies that involves rights which are legally demandable
and its duty to determine whether a grave abuse of discretion has been
committed by ant branch or instrumentality of the Government.
- The important role of the Judiciary is promoting, safeguarding, and advancing
human rights.

The Academe
- Is another key player in the building of a human rights culture in the
Philippines. Effective 2013-2014, human rights law will be taught in all law
schools.
- Bolstering the study of human rights in the schools are the establishment of
centers and institutes of human rights and social justice and the foundation of
student human rights organizations in many colleges and universities.
- The upsurge of interest on human rights education, research, and externships
is a healthy sign for the development of a human rights culture.

The Family
- At school, children learn by instruction but at home, they learn by
transmission.
- First and hands-on lessons related to human rights and respect of human
dignity can be caught at home. As parents are, so children will they be.