HUMAN RIGHTS

       Human rights refer to those rights which human beings have

simply because they are human beings. These rights are quite independent of
social circumstances or the achievement level which the individual has
attained.

A person’s human rights cannot be relinquished, transferred or forfeited by

the actions of another individual. Additional rights which a person may have
are largely derived from the human rights which are basic to each individual.

Advocates of Human Rights

1.          Cleisthenes (600 B.C) made military service and civil
administration open to the poor in ancient Greece.

2.          Pericles (489-429 B.C) made democracy complete for all freemen of

ancient Greece.

3.          Aristotle (384-322 B.C) believed that justice and fairness must

prevail in all human affairs. Honor and riches in the society must be
granted on the basis of the efforts expended or the qualities which
were displayed by each individual.

4.          Marcus Tulius Cicero (106-43 B.C) proposed a well-developed

concept of natural law which was eternal and which applied to all
people at all times.

5.          George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) believed that the most

important agent of history is the state, which is the creator and
protector of values including human rights.

6.          Karl Marx (1818-1883) advocated communism as the only way to

protect the rights of the proletarian who are constantly oppressed by
the bourgeois.
 7.          Jeremy Bentham (1748-1842) believed that the government is the
one that issues pious declarations about the rights of men, yet it is
also the one that hampers the implementation of these rights.

8.          Thomas Aquinas (125-1274) advanced the idea that men have the
right to disobey manmade legislation which violate eternal principles
of justice and equality.

9.          Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire (1694-1778) contented persuasively

for freedom of the person, the press and religion.

10.      Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) argued that if there was much

evil in the world it could not be blamed on man’s natural inclinations
but on the social injustice and inequality which drive man to commit
every conceivable depraved act.

THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN

RIGHTS
       One of the very first achievements of the United Nations is the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights by the General Assembly on December 10, 1948.

The Assembly proclaimed the Declaration a “common standard of

achievement for all peoples of all nations” It called upon all member states
and all people to promote and secure the effective recognition and observance
of the rights and freedoms set forth in the Declaration.

       In 1950, the General Assembly decided that December 10 each year should
be observed internationally as Human Rights Day.

       Articles 1 and 2 of the Declaration state that “all human beings are born
free and equal in dignity and rights and are entitled to all the rights and
freedoms set forth in the Declaration without distinction of any kind, such as
race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or
social origin, property, birth or other status.

       Articles 3-21 of the Declaration set forth the civil and political rights to
which all human beings are entitled including:

       The right to life, liberty and security of person;

       Freedom from slavery and servitude;

       Freedom from torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or

punishment;

       The right to recognition as a person before the law; equal protection of the
law;

       To be brought to an effective judicial remedy; freedom from arbitrary

arrest, detention or exile; the right to a fair and public hearing by an
independent and impartial tribunal; the right to be presumed innocent until
proven guilty;

o   Freedom from arbitrary interference of privacy, family, home or

correspondence;

o   Freedom of movement; the right of aslum; the right to a

nationality;

o   The right to marry and found a family; the right to own property;

o   Freedom of thought, conscience and religion; freedom of opinion

and expression;

o   The right of association and of assembly;

o   The right to take part in government and the right of equal access
to public service.

       Articles 22-27 of the Declaration set forth the economic, social and
cultural rights which all human beings are entitled including:

o   The right to social security;

o   The right to work;

o   The right to rest and leisure;

 o   The right to standard of living adequate for health and well being:

o   The right to education; and

o   The right to participate in the cultural life of the community.

       The concluding Articles 28-30 recognize that everyone is entitled to social

and international order in which these rights and freedoms may be fully
realized, and they stress the duties and responsibilities which the individual
owes to the community.

       The Provisions stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

are now adopted and enshrined in the Bill of Rights of the 1987 Philippine
Constitution.