Meaning Of Human Rights

Meaning Of Human Rights

In general terms Human Rights are entitlements due to every man, women and child because they are human. In other words certain inherent and inalienable rights are due to human beings simply of being human. The concept of human rights derives from human dignity and the inherent worth of a human being. Therefore, it is suggested that whatever adds to human dignity and the fundamental freedom of humans is a human right. In other words Human Rights are what each human being is entitled to as human being to live a dignified, secure life of his/her choice. All human being are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. This assumption is derived from the natural rights theory according to which the right to liberty and equality is man’s birthright and cannot be alienated; and that because man is a rational and moral being he is different from other creatures on earth and therefore entitled to certain rights and freedoms which other creatures may not enjoy. Formally Human Rights are proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations Organizations on 10 December 1948 and put into legal form in a number of international acts and treaties. However, there are differences of opinion with regard to meaning, nature, and content of Rights. It is a concept very much contested not only between the East [ Representing Former Socialist States ] and the West [ Representing Liberal-Democratic States ] but also between developed and developing countries. Each group of nations has a different perception of human rights.

The so-called first world countries of the West believed in the supremacy of the individual, while the Communist countries of East focused on the community and the unconditional priorities of class interest. Hence, the individual benefited from these group rights, as his/her rights were better provided for, within the community. The Communists gave priority to economic, social and cultural rights and insisted that they could not be separated from the class character of society in which they existed, while the Liberal-Democratic States of the West asserted the primacy of civil and political rights. This debate of priority of one set of rights over another continued to occupy the agendas of national and international governance during major part of the 20th century.

The newly emerging States of the Third World, while adopting the Eastern or Western model of human rights paradigms in their constitutions, or a combination of both, focused on solidarity or group rights such as right to self-determination of peoples, including sovereignty over their natural resources, the right to development, the right to a healthy and ecologically balanced environment, the right to peace and the right to ownership of the common heritage of mankind. They also insist on interdependence and indivisibility of civil and political rights to economic and social rights.

Thus, the modem concept of human rights is comprehensive in its nature and content. It includes three types of rights: [1] – Civil and Political [2] – Economic, Social and Cultural [3] – The Emerging Collective or Group Rights. In fact, the catalogue of rights is expanding everyday. Moreover, it must be noted that no catalogue elaborating specific human rights will ever be exhaustive or final. Its content goes hand in hand with the state of moral consciousness, or development of civilization at any given time in history.

 

• Some Definitions Of Rights

Let us discuss some important questions:

• • What is the importance of rights?
  • Why do we need them?
  • How can we define rights?
  • Which is the most appropriate term for rights?
  • Whether terms such as natural rights, civil rights, political rights and fundamental rights are same or have different meanings?

Here we explore answer to these questions. There exist definitional problems of the concept of rights. Many definitions of the concept of rights are found in the literature. Each of the following definitions may help us in understanding different facets of rights. Let us look at them.

1- According to Ernest Barker, “Rights are the external conditions necessary for the greatest possible development of the capacities of the personality.”

2- Harold J. Laski defines rights as “those conditions of social life without which no man can seek, in general, to be his best”. On their importance he remarked, “the state is known by the rights it maintains”.

3- In the words of Bernard Bosanquet, “we have a right to the means that are necessary to the development of our lives in the direction of the highest good of the community of which we are a part”.

4- Leonard Hobhouse says, “Rights are what we may expect from others and others from us, and all genuine rights are conditions of social welfare. Thus, the rights anyone may claim are partly those, which are essential to every man in order to be rational human person, and partly those, which are necessary for the fulfillment of the function that society expects from him. They are conditioned by, and correlative to, his social responsibilities”.

5- Wilde considers that “Rights are reasonable claims to freedom in the exercise of certain activities”. He further says: rights depend upon duties. “It is only in a world of duties that rights have significance”. They are like the two sides of a coin.

6- Prof. Hohfeld calls the four things which the term a right covers: “Claims”, “Privileges or Liberties”, “Powers” and “Immunities”. Examples of “Claim Rights” are the right of an old-age pensioner to a pension and an unemployed to get his social security benefits. Examples of “Liberty Rights” are the right of a man to spend his leisure as he pleases, and to grow a beard if he wants to. A “Power Right” entitles the right-holder to require other people to do certain things at his discretion. Examples are the right of a landlord to alter the rent paid by his tenants, and the right of a policeman to question eyewitnesses at the scene of a crime. An “Immunity Right” entitles the right-holder to be exempt from something – an MP [Member of Parliament] to be exempt from the law of libel for what he says in Parliament, a conscientious objector to be exempt from military service.

In short, rights are nothing but claims against the State or government or individual persons.

Rights are also used in a variety of ways indicating differences in ideological and philosophical perceptions. For some, rights are “normative attributes” that belong to a self-conscious person who perceives himself as an agent of purposive creative action. For others, rights are entitlements to choose from. McCloskey describes rights positively, as entitlements, to do, to have, enjoy or have done. For MacCormick rights “always and necessarily concern human goods”, that is, concern with what it is good, at least, in normal circumstances, for a person to have. Feinberg and White assert that rights can be “possessed, enjoyed, exercised and claimed, demanded and asserted”.

There are two other terms – legal rights and moral rights. The former refers to rights laid down in law and the latter refers to rights based on general principles of fairness and justice. Moral rights may or may not be enforced and supported by the law of the land. For example, a teacher may claim that he/she has a moral right to discipline their pupil, offer them advice about their academic and moral development or about their choice of career. Sometimes people claim certain rights because of what they earn through their work [ By writing a book an author may gain both a moral and legal right to a percentage of the proceeds from sales ].

In other words, human rights are those conditions of life that allow us to develop and use our human qualities of intelligence and conscience and to satisfy our spiritual needs. We cannot develop our personality in their absence. They are fundamental to our nature; without them we cannot live as human beings. James Nickel rightly states that human rights aim to secure for individuals the necessary conditions for leading a minimally good life. According to Scot David, the concept of human rights is closely connected with the protection of individuals from the exercise of State, government or authority in certain areas of their lives; it is also directed towards the creation of social conditions by the State in which individuals are to develop their fullest potential. Plano and Olton have stated that human rights are those which are considered to be absolutely essential for the survival, existence and personality development of a human being. To deny human beings their rights is to set the stage for political and social unrest, wars, hostility between nations and between groups within a nation and that denial leads to urgent demands for a better life in larger freedom. Human rights, far from being an abstract subject for philosophers, political scientists and lawyers, affect the daily lives of everyone – man, woman, and the child.

The term “Human Rights” is all comprehensive – it includes Civil-Political [ Negative Rights ] and Economic, Social and Cultural [ Positive Rights ] and Collective or Group Rights.

It should also be acknowledged that rights and duties are two sides of the same coin. One’s rights impose duties on others. Allegiance to the State, where a citizen resides, obeying the State laws, payment of taxes, exercising right to vote, rendering compulsory military service, parental duty towards their children when they are young and the duty of adult persons to take care of the needs of their old parents, etc. are some of the duties which have been recognized in different countries.

 

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