What are they?

Human Rights
Syllabus Dot Point

Students learn about:

1. The Nature and development of Human Rights

⬜ The definition of Human Rights

‘DEFINE’
Students learn to: means
STATE THE MEANING
⬜ Define human rights and
IDENTIFY ESSENTIAL
QUALITIES
 What are Human rights?
“recognition of the inherent dignity of and the equal
and inalienable rights of all members of the human
family is the foundation of freedom, justice and
peace in the world”.

Inalienable: rights that cannot be taken away

The Preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
What does this mean?

⬜ HR are the basic rights and freedoms that belong to all

human beings.

⬜ HR differ from ordinary rights as they are considered to

be universal (everybody has them), inalienable (cannot
be taken away) and inherent (automatic, born with these
rights, part of being human).
“The government does not give you those rights; it
is the responsibility of the state to recognise them”.

Rights must be balanced with responsibilities, SMH, 2010

Aim of Human Rights
⬜ To set a standard by which to measure inequality and
fairness in society.

⬜ Outline standards to ensure a free, fair and just society.

⬜ Protect individuals from injustice, recognise and respect

the dignity of all people and prevent discrimination
against groups based on race, religion, sex, gender, sexual
orientation, physical characteristics and beliefs.
Syllabus Dot Point

Students learn about:

1. The nature and development of human rights

⬜ Formal statements of Human Rights

- Universal declaration of Human Rights

- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

- International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

 Syllabus Dot Point

Students learn to:

⬜ Examine major human rights documents and explain their

contribution to the development of human rights

EXAMINE EXAMINE major human rights

“inquire into” documents
Look
Look into closely AND

Delve into EXPLAIN their contribution to the

development of human rights
inspect
 Formal Statements of HR

World War II UDHR ICCPR ICCPR

& &
1939-1945 1948 ICESCR ICESCR
signed Come into force

1966 1976
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Human rights discussed prior to the declaration.

⬜ Philosophy of Plato, Aristotle etc..

⬜ Codes of Hammurabi, Cyrus the Great

⬜ The Declaration of independence 1776

⬜ The French Declaration on the Rights of Man 1789

⬜ Recognised that there must’ve been some sort of inherent rights of

man. These are examples
History of Development

There was a long history of rights developing in the areas of :

⬜ Slavery

⬜ Labour rights

⬜ Universal Suffrage

⬜ Universal Education

⬜ Self-determination
⬜ Commission on Human Rights was established and told
to develop a Declaration of Human Rights. This was called
the ‘Human Rights Project’. It was chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt.

On the 10th December, 1948

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Voted on in the UN General Assembly

(UDHR)

48 of 58 countries signed

IMPORTANT: Write UNIVERSAL NOT UNITED NATIONS

UDHR
Made up of 30 articles. Covering rights such as:

⬜ Right to life ⬜ Equality

⬜ Liberty ⬜ Asylum

⬜ Security ⬜ Freedom from slavery and

torture
⬜ Thought
⬜ Ability to join trade unions
⬜ Religion
⬜ Participate in cultural life
⬜ Education
⬜ Adequate standard of living
⬜ work
Soft Law V Hard Law

⬜ Soft Law: statements such as declarations which do not

create legal obligations. They do however influence and
create pressure on signatories

⬜ Hard Law: These are conventions and treaties that create

legally binding obligations on their members
Q. What type of Document is the UDHR? Is it an
example of soft or hard law? Explain both.

p.163 in old textbook

What type of document?

⬜ It is a declaration

⬜ It is not a fully binding treaty

⬜ It does not contain enforceable laws or obligations

⬜ It is an example of soft law

 Human rights are indivisible- they can’t be separated
from one another.

⬜ One is no more important than the other.

⬜ You cannot favour ONE right over another nor ignore

one at the expense of another

⬜ Example of this can be seen today!

WESTERN Civil and Political Result:
COUNTRIES Rights Terrorist groups like
over Hamas and Hezbollah
The US and its allies Social and Economic have had the support
have favoured: Rights (e.g. when of the local people
dealing with Palestine, because they provide
Iraq, Lebanon) for the social needs
(e.g. schools, hospitals
et)

EASTERN Economic Welfare Result:

COUNTRIES of ‘the state’ Chinese labour camps,
over bans on free speech.
Communist Civil and Political Individuals having rights
Rights of individuals denied for the good of the
countries have country government
favoured:
2014 HSC
The UDHR was only the beginning…

Since the UDHR was so well received by countries, the

Human Rights Commission wanted to move to the next
phase:
By:

MAKING A BINDING VERSION THAT

COUNTRIES WOULD HAVE TO FOLLOW
Why did they need a binding version? Issues
with the Declaration
⬜ Some things in the UDHR were easy enough to be converted into
binding international law. Such as:

⬜ The Conventions on Genocide

⬜ The Geneva Conventions (about what’s not acceptable during wars)

⬜ The Refugee Convention

⬜ They tried to get a formalised version of the UDHR but there were
problems with getting a binding agreement on the rest of the UDHR
Problems with the Declaration

1. The major powers were worried about their sovereignty (especially

their control over “internal” issues) would be violated

2. The developing countries were worried that forcing them to provide

‘economic’ rights for their people would make it impossible for
them to become advanced economies.
“Western” countries (US, etc) favoured Civil and political rights

+
“Eastern” countries (Soviets, etc) favoured Economic rights

= The ‘DIVORCE’ of Human Rights ( Freeland)

The rights in the UDHR got split into TWO binding conventions
 The rights in the UDHR got split into TWO binding conventions

ICPR Only signed by

enough countries
to actually come
into force in:
UDHRThe US insisted that these
should be split into two
1966 1976
1948

ICESCR

28 Years
International Bill of Rights

UDH ICCP ICESC

R R R

The International Bill of Rights

International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights (ICCPR)
ICCPR
⬜ Creates an obligation on state parties to respect civil and
political rights of individuals.

⬜ Not all rights are absolute. Meaning they can be altered

or changed for a legitimate purpose. This occurs when
one right is limited in order to protect national security or
the general welfare of a democratic society.

⬜ Some rights are known as non-derogable (absolute).

These rights cannot be changed. These are listed under
article (4) of the ICCPR.
International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights

⬜ Economic, social and cultural rights include the right to

an adequate standard of living, the right to education, the
right to fair wages and the right to safe working
conditions.

⬜ The United Nations Committee on Economic Social and

Cultural Rights (the CESCR) monitors compliance with
the ICESCR and provides guidance on how countries
should interpret the ICESCR.