Human Rights, defined

Human rights are commonly understood as being those rights which are
inherent in the mere fact of being human. The concept of human rights is based
on the belief that every human being is entitled to enjoy her/his rights without
discrimination. Human rights differ from other rights in two respects. Firstly,
they are characterized by being:
• Inherent in all human beings by virtue of their humanity alone (they do
not have,e.g., to be purchased or to be granted);
• Inalienable (within qualified legal boundaries); and
• Equally applicable to all.
Secondly, the main duties deriving from human rights fall on states and their
authorities or agents, not on individuals.
One important implication of these characteristics is that human rights must
themselves be protected by law (‘the rule of law’). Furthermore, any disputes
about these rights should be submitted for adjudication through a competent,
impartial and independent tribunal, applying procedures which ensure full
equality and fairness to all the parties, and determining the question in
accordance with clear, specific and pre-existing laws, known to the public and
openly declared.
The idea of basic rights originated from the need to protect the individual
against the (arbitrary) use of state power. Attention was therefore initially
focused on those rights which oblige governments to refrain from certain
actions. Human rights in this category are generally referred to as ‘fundamental
freedoms’. As human rights are viewed as a precondition for leading a dignified
human existence, they serve as a guide and touchstone for legislation.
The specific nature of human rights, as an essential precondition for human
development, implies that they can have a bearing on relations both between
the individual and the state, and between individuals themselves. The
individual-state relationship is known as the ‘vertical effect’ of human rights.
While the primary purpose of human rights is to establish rules for relations
between the individual and the state, several of these rights can also have
implications for relations among individuals. This socalled ‘horizontal effect’
implies, among other things, that a government not only has an obligation to
refrain from violating human rights, but also has a duty to protect the individual
from infringements by other individuals. The right to life thus means that the
government must strive to protect people against homicide by their fellow
human beings. Similarly, Article 17(1) and (2) of the ICCPR obliges
governments to protect individuals against unlawful interference with their
privacy. Another typical example is the Convention of the Elimination of All
Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), which obliges states to prevent racial
discrimination between human beings. State obligations regarding human

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rights may involve desisting from certain activities (e.g.,torture) or acting in
certain ways (e.g., organising free elections).

The term ‘human rights’ is used to denote a broad spectrum of rights ranging
from the right to life to the right to a cultural identity. They involve all
elementary preconditions for a dignified human existence. These rights can be
ordered and specified in different ways. At the international level, a distinction
has sometimes been made between civil and political rights, on the one hand,
and economic, social and cultural rights on the other. This section clarifies this
distinction. Since other classifications are also used, these will likewise be
reviewed, without claiming, however, that these categorisations reflect an
international consensus. It is also clear that the various categorisations overlap
to a considerable extent.
Although human rights have been classified in a number of different manners
it is important to note that international human rights law stresses that all
human rights are universal, indivisible and interrelated (e.g., Vienna
Declaration and Programme of Action (1993), para. 5). The indivisibility of
human rights implies that no right is more important than any other.

Classifications of Human Rights

-Main Division/classification
Classic Rights and Social Rights
One classification used is the division between ‘classic’ and ‘social’ rights.
‘Classic’ rights are often seen to require the non-intervention of the state
(negative obligation), and ‘social rights’ as requiring active intervention on the
part of the state (positive obligations). In other words, classic rights entail an
obligation for the state to refrain from certain actions, while social rights oblige
it to provide certain guarantees. Lawyers often describe classic rights in terms
of a duty to achieve a given result (‘obligation of result’) and social rights in
terms of a duty to provide the means (‘obligations of conduct’). The evolution
of international law, however, has lead to this distinction between ‘classic’ and
‘social’ rights becoming increasingly awkward. Classic rights such as civil and
political rights often require considerable investment by the state. The state
does not merely have the obligation to respect these rights, but must also
guarantee that people can effectively enjoy them. Hence, the right to a fair trial,
for instance,requires well-trained judges, prosecutors, lawyers and police
officers, as well as administrative support. Another example is the organisation
of elections, which also entails high costs.

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On the other hand, most ‘social’ rights contain elements that require the state
to abstain from interfering with the individual’s exercise of the right. As several
commentators note, the right to food includes the right for everyone to procure
their own food supply without interference; the right to housing implies the
right not to be a victim of forced eviction; the right to work encompasses the
individual’s right to choose his/her own work and also requires the state not to
hinder a person from working and to abstain from measures that would
increase unemployment; the right to education implies the freedom to establish
and direct educational establishments; and the right to the highest attainable
standard of health implies the obligation not to interfere with the provision of
health care.
In sum, the differentiation of ‘classic’ rights from ‘social’ rights does not reflect
the nature of the obligations under each set of rights.

-Other Classifications
CIVIL, POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS

Civil rights
The term ‘civil rights’ is often used with reference to the rights set out in the
first eighteen articles of the UDHR, almost all of which are also set out as
binding treaty norms in the ICCPR. From this group, a further set of ‘physical
integrity rights’ has been identified, which concern the right to life, liberty and
security of the person, and which offer protection from physical violence
against the person, torture and inhuman treatment, arbitrary arrest, detention,
exile, slavery and servitude, interference with one’s privacy and right of
ownership, restriction of one’s freedom of movement, and the freedom of
thought, conscience and religion. The difference between ‘basic rights’ (see
below) and ‘physical integrity rights’ lies in the fact that the former include
economic and social rights, but do not include rights such as protection of
privacy and ownership.
Although not strictly an integrity right, the right to equal treatment and
protection in law certainly qualifies as a civil right. Moreover, this right plays
an essential role in the realisation of economic, social and cultural rights.
Another group of civil rights is referred to under the collective term ‘due
process rights’. These pertain, among other things, to the right to a public
hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, the ‘presumption of
innocence’, the ne bis in idem principle (freedom from double jeopardy) and
legal assistance (see, e.g., Articles 9, 10, 14 and 15 ICCPR).

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 Political rights

In general, political rights are those set out in Articles 19 to 21 UDHR and also
codified in the ICCPR. They include freedom of expression, freedom of
association and assembly, the right to take part in the government of one’s
country and the right to vote and stand for election at genuine periodic
elections held by secret ballot (see Articles 18, 19, 21, 22 and 25 ICCPR).

Economic and social rights

The economic and social rights are listed in Articles 22 to 26 UDHR, and further
developed and set out as binding treaty norms in the ICESCR. These rights
provide the conditions necessary for prosperity and wellbeing. Economic rights
refer, for example, to the right to property, the right to work, which one freely
chooses or accepts, the right to a fair wage, a reasonable limitation of working
hours, and trade union rights. Social rights are those rights necessary for an
adequate standard of living, including rights to health, shelter, food, social care,
and the right to education (see Articles 6 to 14 ICESCR).

Cultural rights

The UDHR lists cultural rights in Articles 27 and 28: the right to participate
freely in the cultural life of the community, the right to share in scientific
advancement and the right to the protection of the moral and material interests
resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which one is the
author (see also Article 15 ICESCR and Article 27 ICCPR).

Generations of Human Rights

First, second and third generation rights
The division of human rights into three generations was first proposed by Karel
Vasak at the International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg. His division
follows the principles of Liberté, Égalité and Fraternité of the French
Revolution.

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First generation rights are related to liberty and refer fundamentally to civil
and political rights. The second generation rights are related to equality,
including economic, social and cultural rights. Third generation or ‘solidarity
rights’ cover group and collective rights, which include, inter alia, the right to
development, the right to peace and the right to a clean environment. The only
third generation right which so far has been given an official human rights
status - apart from the right to selfdetermination, which is of longer standing -
is the right to development (see the Declaration on the Right to Development,
adopted by the UNGA on 4 December 1986, and the 1993 Vienna Declaration
and Programme of Action (Paragraph I, 10)). The Vienna Declaration confirms
the right to development as a collective as well as an individual right,
individuals being regarded as the primary subjects of development. Recently,
the right to development has been given considerable attention in the activities
of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Adoption of a set of criteria for the
periodic evaluation of global development partnerships from the perspective
of the right to development by the Working Group on the Right to Development,
in January, 2006, evidence the concrete steps being taken in this area. The EU
and its member states also explicitly accept the right to development as part of
the human rights concept.
While the classification of rights into ‘generations’ has the virtue of
incorporating communal and collective rights, thereby overcoming the
individualist moral theory in which human rights are grounded, it has been
criticised for not being historically accurate and for establishing a sharp
distinction between all human rights. Indeed, the concept of generations of
rights is at odds with the Teheran Proclamation and the Vienna Declaration and
Programme of Action, which establish that all rights are indivisible,
interdependent and interrelated.

Concept of Social Justice

Social justice is essentially the equality in civil, political and economic rights
and opportunities.
Social justice is "neither communism, nor despotism, nor atomism, nor
anarchy," but the humanization of laws and the equalization of social and
economic forces by the State so that justice in its rational and objectively
secular conception may at least be approximated. Social justice means the
promotion of the welfare of all the people, the adoption by the Government of
measures calculated to insure economic stability of all the competent elements
of society, through the maintenance of a proper economic and social
equilibrium in the interrelations of the members of the community,
constitutionally, through the adoption of measures legally justifiable, or extra-
constitutionally, through the exercise of powers underlying the existence of all
governments on the time-honored principle of salus populi est suprema lex.

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Social justice, therefore, must be founded on the recognition of the necessity of
interdependence among divers and diverse units of a society and of the
protection that should be equally and evenly extended to all groups as a
combined force in our social and economic life, consistent with the fundamental
and paramount objective of the state of promoting the health, comfort, and
quiet of all persons, and of bringing about "the greatest good to the greatest
number." (Calalang vs. Williams, G.R. No. 47800, December 2, 1940)

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Sources:
https://www.humanrights.is/en/human-rights-education-project/human-
rights-concepts-ideas-and-fora/part-i-the-concept-of-human-
rights/definitions-and-
classifications#:~:text=Human%20rights%20are%20commonly%20understo
od%20as%20being%20those%20rights%20which,her%2Fhis%20rights%20
without%20discrimination.

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