HUMAN RIGHTS

INTRODUCTION
 WHAT CONSTITUES HR

• Rights you have simply bec

you are a human being
• Things to which you are
entitled or allowed =
freedoms that are
guaranteed
• Based on principle of respect
for individual
• Underlying assumption:
Every single person deserves
to be treated with dignity
• Historically relationship bet
govt + citizens been internal
matter – falling within
sovereign domain of states
• After WWII + accelerating since
1970 HR become increasingly
internationalized
 Origins - HR

• Found both - Greek philosophy +

various world religions
• Age of Enlightenment (18thc)
concept of HR emerged as an
explicit category
• Human beings came to be seen
endowed by nature with certain
inalienable fundamental rights that
could be invoked against a govt +
should be safeguarded by it
• HR were henceforth seen as
elementary preconditions for an
existence worthy of human dignity
 PERSIA
• 539BC Cyrus Great Conquered
Babylon
 Freed Slaves
 Declared all people had the
right to choose their own
religion
 Established racial equality
• Known as Cyrus cylinder –
recognized as world’s first
CHARTER of HR
• Passages in cylinder
interpreted as expressing
Cyrus’ respect for humanity +
promoting a form of religious
tolerance + freedom
• Cylinder replica displayed UN NY
 MAGNA CARTA – 1215
Document constituting a fundamental guarantee of rights and
privileges
• King John – forced singe
documents asserting individual
right
• Viewed as one of the most
important legal documents in
development of modern
democracy
 Among them:
 The right of the church to be free
from sovereign’s interference
 The right of all free citizens to
own + inherit property
 Forbidding bribery + official
misconduct
 Established principles of due
process + equality before the law
 Other Milestones
• US Decl Independence 4 July 1776
• Constitution of US – 1787
• Bill of Rights – 1791: First 10
amendments of the Constitution
 Protects:
 Freedom of speech
 Religion
 Right to keep and bear arms
 Freedom of assembly etc.
 Landmark document of the
Western world
• Oldest written National
Constitution
• French Declaration of the Rights of
Man and of the Citizens – 1789 –
Men are born and remain free +
equal in rights
 Law must be the same for all
 No man may be accused, arrested or
detained except in the cases
determined by law….
 Presumption of innocence until
proven guilty
 No one is to be silenced bec of his
opinions even religious provided
their manifestation does not disturb
the public order established by law
 Free communication of ideas +
opinions is one of the most precious
of the rights of man
 Every citizen may speak - write +
print freely…
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XXGF_V8_7
M
• The story of HR
 UDHR 1948
• Drafted = UN HR Commission
• Chaired = Eleanor Roosevelt
• Took 2 yrs - 81 meetings - 168
amendments + 1,400 votes for
document be accepted
• UDHR primarily a statement of
principle
• Constitutes foundation = Int.
HR Law
• AIM to create a more
equitable and just
world
• UDHR’s 30 principles
• Picture adoption of UDHR
 UDHR (30 Articles)
• 1. We Are All Born Free & Equal We are all
born free. We all have our own thoughts
and ideas. We should all be treated in the
same way

• 2. Don’t Discriminate These rights belong to

everybody, whatever our differences

• 3. The Right to Life We all have the right to

life, and to live in freedom and safety 

• 4. No Slavery Nobody has any right to make

us a slave. We cannot make anyone our
slave
• Modern Day Slavery
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRu6CaXTAxA
• 40 million slaves in the world - ILO
 5. No Torture Nobody
has any right to hurt us
or to torture us 
1984 UN Convention Against Torture
• 6. You Have Rights No Matter
Where You Go I am a person
just like you! 
7. We’re All Equal Before the
Law The law is the same for
everyone. It must treat us all
fairly. 
8. Your HR Are Protected by Law
We can all ask for the law to
help us when we are not
treated fairly. 
9. No Unfair Detainment
Nobody has the right to put us
in prison without good reason
and keep us there, or to send us
away from our country
• 10. The Right to Trial If we are put
on trial this should be in public.
The people who try us should not
let anyone tell them what to do 
11. We’re Always Innocent Till
Proven Guilty Nobody should be
blamed for doing something until it
is proven. When people say we did
a bad thing we have the right to
show it is not true 
12. The Right to Privacy Nobody
should try to harm our good name.
Nobody has the right to come into
our home open our letters or
bother us or our family without a
good reason. 
13. Freedom to Move We all have
the right to go where we want in
our own country and to travel as
we wish 
• 14. The Right to Seek a Safe
Place to Live If we are
frightened of being badly
treated in our own country,
we all have the right to run
away to another country to
be safe  (Not any more)
15. Right to a Nationality We
all have the right to belong to
a country
Estimated - over 12m people around the world are stateless
• 18. Freedom of Thought We all have
the right to believe in what we want
to believe, to have a religion or to
change it if we want
19. Freedom of Expression We all
have the right to make up our own
minds, to think what we like, to say
what we think, and to share our
ideas with other people
20. The Right to Public Assembly We
all have the right to meet our friends
and to work together in peace to
defend our rights. Nobody can make
us join a group if we don’t want to
• 21. The Right to Democracy We all
have the right to take part in the govt
of our country. Every grown-up
should be allowed to choose their
own leaders (China? S. Arabia, USSR
at the time?)
• 22. Social Security We all have the
right to affordable housing,
medicine, education, and childcare,
enough money to live on and
medical help if we are ill or old
23. Workers’ Rights Every grown-up
has the right to do a job, to a fair
wage for their work, and to join a
trade union
24. The Right to Play We all have
the right to rest from work and to
relax
25. Food and Shelter for All We all
have the right to a good life.
Mothers and children, people who
are old, unemployed or disabled,
and all people have the right to be
cared of.
• 27. Copyright is a special law that
protects one’s own artistic
creations and writings; others
cannot make copies without
permission.

• 28. A Fair and Free World There

must be proper order so we can all
enjoy rights and freedoms in our
own country and all over the
world.
29. Responsibility We have a duty
to other people, and we should
protect their rights and freedoms.
30. No One Can Take Away
Your HR
 WHY IS THE DECLARATION SIGNIFICANT?

 It is universal in its content +

application
 Makes the protection of HR an
important part of Int. law
 Serves as a basis for HR observers
(NGOs) eg Amnesty International
to refer to
 Sets a standard of achievement for
all nations to strive for
 It is used to condemn the actions
of nation-states that suppress +
violate the rights of their own
citizens
 The International Bill of Rights
• UDHR - statement of principle
• Did not have legally binding force
• Was intended to be translated into
more detailed Conventions for
member states to adopt + then use to
fashion enforceable national
legislation
• Took 18 yrs - debate how to achieve it
• A split emerged during the process of
drafting the follow-up to the UD bec
some countries maintained a different
view about the nature of economic -
political + cultural rights
• Decided in 1952 = 2 Conventions to
be drafted instead of one
• 1966 drafts of 2 conventions
approved:
 International Covenant on Civil a
nd Political Rights
(ICCPR)
 International Covenant on Econo
mic, Social and Cultural Rights
(ICESCR)
• Both Covenants entered into
force 1976
• Collectively - 2 Covenants along
with UDHR - known as
International Bill of Rights
 ICESCR

• Details important economic

rights:
 right to work
 right to fair remuneration
 right to safe working
conditions
 right to form + join unions
 right to strike
 Special protection also
extended to working mothers
before + after childbirth
• Covenant also includes social rights
such as the right to:
 food
 housing
 education
 Right to healthcare
 Social security
• Cultural rights include:
 the right to participate in the cultural
life of a society
 the right to benefit from scientific
progress
• It recognizes the right to: ICCPR
 life
 liberty
 freedom of movement
 equality under the law
 presumption of innocence
• Details the rights of association
as well as the freedom of religion
+ conscience
• It lists the right to:
 free elections
 universal suffrage
• 167 state parties to ICCPR
• US signed = 1977 but not ratified
until 1992
• When US ratified it noted its
reservations about definition of
torture
• Article 1 inserts a right of “all peoples” to

self-determination + to
“determine their political status + freely
pursue their economic social + cultural
development”

• East Timor - case of self-determination

• Territory Portuguese control 1556 - 1975
• Independence short-lived = invaded by
Indonesia + occupied until late 1990s
• 1999 calls for self-determination from
East Timor resulted in UN-sponsored
election
• Vote overwhelming for independence
but Indonesia violently resisted
• Achieved full independence = 2002 +
member of UN
 Article 4 Specifies which rights in ICCPR = non-derogable

• Term 'non-derogable‘ -
stipulates those rights
specified in a treaty that states
cannot violate under
any circumstances
 right to life + freedom from
genocide (Article 6)
 freedom from torture (Article 7)
 freedom from slavery + forced
labor (Article 8)
 freedom of thought,
conscience + religion (Article 18)
 Article 6 extends protection
HR to a mass scale - explicitly
prohibiting Genocide

• This clause also addresses death

penalty
• ICCPR skirts issue of death penalty +
does not protect individuals against
legally imposed death penalties for
“the most serious crimes”
• This omission from ICCPR reflects
the fact that many industrial
countries including US continue to
allow death penalty
• Note: To be a member of the EU
candidate country should abolish
death penalty
• Article 8 adds compulsory labor to
Declaration’s prohibition of slavery
• Article 20 covers wartime propaganda
which was widely used by Nazis WWII
+ crimes resulting from “national,
racial or religious hatred” (what we
would now consider “hate crimes”)
• Article 24 establishes groundwork for
special protections concerning rights
of children - freedom from
discrimination + right to have a
nationality
[100,000 children in London without secure
immigration status] c article
• 9 Core HR Treaties:
 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948)
 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
(CERD) (1965)
 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966)
 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966)
 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW) (1979)
 Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment
(CAT) (1984)
 Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and its optional protocols (2000)
 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers
and Members of Their Families (1990)
 International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006)
(Europe around 50m disabled)
 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (1998, 2002)
 Key Properties of HR 
• 2 properties of HR merit special
attention  
First is concept of rights as “
inalienable”
• = that something cannot be bought,
sold, transferred or assigned to
another
• In practice – means you cannot cede
your rights even if you wish to do so
One example = forced labor + slavery
2nd is the concept of “derogability”

Derogation is the act by which a law or

right is eliminated by a subsequent law
that “limits its scope or impairs its utility
+ force”
• Certain circumstances in which
state feels necessary curtail
certain individual rights for the
greater good
• Certain rights such as:
 right to free expression
-guaranteed Art. 19 - ICCPR =
derogable
• Can be regulated to the extent
that it can be demonstrated to
serve vital public interests eg
public safety
• In US not permitted a person yell
“Fire!” in crowded theater when
there is no fire
 In a sense - inalienability + none-derogability are
two sides of the same coin: certain rights cannot be
given away just as certain rights cannot be taken
away

Such rights are completely secure +

guaranteed for every human being
Note: Depending where you live