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Development of Human Rights :
Human right is not given by man but God. Thus human right has been in existence since creation; however, various thinkers, reformers, philosophers, theologians or social scientists contributed immensely to what is known today as the body of Human Rights. The different schools of thought that contributed to development of Human Rights are as follows:
1. Natural Law School
2. Divine Origin
3. Other Philosophers and Thinkers
1. Natural Law and Natural Rights. Natural Law School believes that Human Rights originate from nature. To them, natural rights are rights given to man by nature and nobody can arbitrarily take away such right, like right to life. Human Rights is therefore inborn in man and cannot be separated from him. That natural law applies to everybody everywhere, unlike the man-made laws (which is called positive law). According to them, natural law is unchangeable and contains principles of justice. In the 16th and 17th Centuries, natural law was revitalized. This time, the concept of Social Contract was postulated.
2. Divine Origin. This School believes that human rights are derived from God Almighty. For instance, when Adam sinned against God, God gave him fair hearing. When Cain killed Abel, God brought Cain to book and the Ten Commandments is more like Charter on Human Rights. Also, the Sermon on the Mount by our Lord Jesus Christ is more like the Golden Rule. Again, when the children of Israel were in captivity for 430 years in Egypt, God intervened to liberate them, and when Jesus arrived, He said I have come to give you life and give same in abundance. which signifies a quality life of human dignity. God, in Acts of the Apostles, warned Peter NOT to call what He has created COMMON. All these shows that God created man in His image and gave him dignity, dominion and honour, which is what Human Rights, is out to protect. Furthermore, God also deposited talents, potentials and gifts in man and keeps him alive in order to maximize the potentials.
3. Other Philosophers and Thinkers. In the 17th and 18th Centuries, positive law advocates appeared and insisted that human rights are derived from the will or command of those in governments. A Social Contract Philosopher said: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable (undeniable) rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men driving their just powers from the consent of the governed (people); that whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends (the purpose), it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it and institute new government.
This social contract concept cited above aided the American and French Revolutions.
What John Locke (the social contract philosopher) is saying is that men came to form a modern government by surrendering their individual rights to the government (which possess sovereign power), if the rights of the people are violated/abused, the individual has the right to rebel against the government and withdraw all its rights voluntarily surrendered to government.
American Independence was in 1776 while the French Revolution was in 1789. Before this time, Human Rights had only a philosophical appeal, but after the American Independence and Revolution, there emerged American Bill of Rights and the French Declaration. These developments gave a tremendous boost to human rights struggle.
Prepared by:
Rev. (Barr.) Chris I.C. Nwadigo
President People's Rights Organisaion PRO
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GENERATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND UNDERSTANDING UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS, 1948 . HRE 202.
CATEGORIES OF HUMAN RIGHTS:
There are three categories of Human Rights namely,
(a) Civil and Political Rights First Generation Rights
(b) Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which constitute the Second Generation Rights
(c) Collective Rights, which is other wise known as the Third Generation
Civil and Political Rights
Civil and Political Rights consist of the First Generation Rights which featured prominently in the 18th and 19th Centuries. Civil and political rights is cost-free. It cost the government little or nothing to respect civil and political rights. What government needs to do is to stop interfering with people's enjoyment of these rights. For instance, it does not cost government anything by refraining/stopping unlawful arrest, detention, harassment, etc. of the citizens. Civil and political rights are also referred to as LIBERTY oriented Rights or Negative Rights (since oppressors / violators of human rights would only need to stop interference or violation of the citizens rights) and are not expected to take positive steps to fulfill the citizens rights.
Examples of civil and political rights include, right to life, right to dignity of human persons, right to fair hearing, right not to be imprisoned on account of civil contractual obligation or debt, freedom of press, conscience, thought, religion, expression, equality before the law, etc.
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Ecosoc) Rights consist of the Second Generation Rights. Countries started placing emphasis on Ecosoc Rights from early 20th Century. For instance, Russian Socialist Republic in 1918, Republic of Germany in 1919 incorporated same in their Constitution.
Ecosoc Rights requires governments to take positive and practical steps to improve the citizens living conditions and ensure that they have access to basic necessities of life, such as access to healthcare services including reproductive health by women, access to food, water, clothing, housing, access to free and compulsory primary and secondary education, etc.
The steps reasonably required to be taken by government to fulfill Ecosoc Rights of the citizens should be implemented progressively to the maximum of the country total resources.
Ecosoc Rights are capital intensive and has to be budgeted for even annually and benchmark / target year set for eradication of extreme poverty, for instance. A country can fix a time frame within which it would ensure everyone access to clean water, food, house, etc.
Ecosoc Rights are derived from the concepts of social justice (equal distribution of the wealth/resources of the Nation) and lays emphasis on the material well being of the vulnerable and disadvantaged groups (e.g. women, widows, unemployed, disabled, aged, abused children, etc.). Ecosoc Rights arose essentially against the practice of capitalism where wealth circulate only amongst the few, while greater part of the population are denied access to basic necessities of life, such as water, food, shelter, basic education, healthcare, social security etc.
Ecosoc Rights include right to food, shelter and clothing, right to social security, right to work, right to favourable conditions of work, right to form trade union, right to education, access to healthcare services, right to protection and assistance to family.
Collective Rights
This is a third general right which includes the political, economic and cultural right to self-determination, the right to peace and solidarity, right to clean environment and right to participate in the common heritage of mankind, that is; scientific and technical discoveries, cultural sites and monuments.
Indivisibility of Human Rights
It is no longer fashionable to categorize Human Rights into different categories or generations. This is because each of the rights complement one another in their enjoyment and the individual cannot maintain his/her dignity as a human being unless he enjoys all the Rights at one and the same time. For example, right to freedom of expression which is a civil and political rights means nothing to a person who is living in extreme poverty and deprived of all the necessities of life.
The United Nations, in 1968 at Tehran, (Iran) insisted on the indivisibility of Human Rights and stated thus: Since human rights and fundamental freedom is indivisible, the full realization of civil and political rights without enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights is impossible.
Furthermore, the world conference on Human Rights in 1998, concluded: All Human Rights are universal, indivisible and inter-dependent and inter-related. The international community must treat human rights globally in a fair and equal manner, and on the same footing and with the same emphasis .
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UNDERSTANDING THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS, 1948 :
The united Nations was formed in June, 1945 when its charter was signed at San Francisco, U.S.A. The purpose of forming the United Nations was to bring peace to the troubled world. Before its formation, the world watched helplessly the First World War and the Second World War, which the League of Nations, the world body at the time, could not stop. In order to bring peace, the founding members of the Unite4d Nations resorted to recognizing the rights of the citizens, setting a human rights standard and has since then been developing further and better human rights standards to regulate the conduct of individuals in relation to one another. and individuals in relation to State as well as State in relation to another. The wisdom of these founding members was captured in the dictum of Eleanor Roosevelt, a widow of former American president, thus: Basically we could not have peace, or an atmosphere in which peace could grow, unless we recognized the Rights of individual human beings their importance, their dignity and agreed that that was the basic thing that had to be accepted throughout the world. It is not surprising therefore that the preamble to United Nations Charter stated thus We the people of the United Nations ¦ determined to re-affirm faith in the fundamental rights, in dignity and worth of human persons, in equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small
The above preamble confirms that United Nations is not the originator of human rights and never claimed as such.
Following the importance United Nations attach to Human Rights, it set up a Commission on Human Rights in 1946 headed by Eleanor Roosevelt. The main function of the Commission was to define basic Human Rights, codify and classify them. The membership of the Commission was 18 drawn the following countries, France, Lebanon, China, Chile, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, Australia, U.S.A. and Canada.
The Commission did a good job and presented the final draft to the General Assembly of the United Nations. However, the final draft was subjected to an unprecedented 1,400 rounds of voting by the U.N. General Assembly before it was eventually adopted at Palais de Chaillot, Paris, France on 10th December, 1948 as what is now known as
UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS (UDHR) in the following words,
This Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance.
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THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS :
THE LANDMARK DECLARATION:
The UDHR is a landmark comprehensive Human Rights document which ranks as one of the greatest inspirational documents in human history. It embodies the hopes and even dreams of people all over the world. After 55 years, it has remained a powerful instrument which continues to exert enormous influence on people's lives all over the world. The first preamble of the Declaration recognized the right and worth of human persons as basis for peace. Thus, Whereas (considering that) recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation for freedom, justice and peace in the world.
The wisdom here which worked like miracle to stop further world wars is promotion and protection of Human Rights which would always guarantee sustainable peace. The 3rd U.N. Secretary-General, U-Thant, supported this when he submitted thus: The world has come to a clear realization of the fact that freedom, justice and world peace can only be assured through international promotion and protection of Human Rights and fundamental freedoms.U-Thant further submitted that the achievement of human freedom generates the will as well as the capacity for economic and social progress; the attainment of a economic and social progress provides the basis for true peace.UDHR has inspired and influenced legislators and judges all over the world in writing Constitutions and interpreting same. About 185 members of the United Nations have endorsed the UDHR including Nigeria that joined the U.N. on 7th October, 1960. Chapter 4 of 1999 Nigerian Constitution titled Fundamental Human Rights copied a lot from the UDHR (especially Civil and Political Rights.)
The Declaration is designed to be a yardstick and a guide to measure the degree of respect for human rights around the world and to serve as a common standard for all nations.
Everyone is entitled to enjoy all the rights and fundamental freedoms contained in the Declaration because it is indispensable for the dignity and free development of human personality. It is a standard for judging human rights violations throughout the world.
UDHR recognized every facet of human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights and envisioned a society in which the people would enjoy freedom from fear and want. The second preamble stated thus, Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people.
While freedom from fear can be achieved by enjoyment of civil and political rights, freedom from want can be attained by a fulfillment of social and economic rights. Freedom from fear means freedom from unlawful arrest and detention, freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment and torture, freedom from political witch - hunting, oppression and victimization and marginalisation, fear of wars, terrorism, etc, etc. etc. Freedom from want includes freedom from want of food to eat, clean water to drink, house to live in, clothes to wear, want of productive employment/work, want of good medicare, want of basic amenities for sustainable livelihood.
CONTENT AND CLASSIFICATION OF RIGHTS
CONTAINED IN THE DECLARATION.
The first article of the UDHR declared that everyone is born free and re-emphasised the inherent dignity, worth and value of all human beings and enjoined all persons to be their brothers keeper, viz: All human beings are born free and equal in rights and dignity. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in the spirit of brotherhood. Article I, UDHR. The underlying philosophy of the Declaration.
Article 2 states that everyone is entitled to the enjoyment of the rights set forth in the Declaration
without discrimination of any kind, such as sex, colour, language, religion, race, political opinion, social origin, property, birth or other status.
There are basically two groups of rights in the Declaration, namely civil and political and social, economic and cultural rights. The civil and political rights which is listed on Articles 4-21 has its foundation in Article 3 which stated thus: Everyone has right to life, liberty and security of persons.
Article 4 - Freedom from slavery and servitude.
Article 5 - Freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment.
Article 6 - Right to recognition of everyone as a person before the law.
Article 7 - Equality before the law.
Article 8 - Right to seek remedy or compensation when your right is violated.
Article 9 - Freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention and from forced exile.
Article 10 - Right to fair hearing.
Article 11 - Right to be presumed innocent until found guilty.
Article 12 - Freedom from arbitrary interference with privacy, family,
home or correspondence.
Article 13 - Freedom of movement.
Article 14 - Right to seek and enjoy asylum.
Article 15 - Right to belong to a country.
Article 16 - Right to marry and found a family.
Article 17 - Right to own property.
Article 18 - Freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
Article 19 - Freedom of opinion and expression.
Article 20 - Freedom of assembly and association.
Article 21 - Right to participate in the government of your country.
The foregoing civil and political rights places responsibility on government to protect life, liberty and security and guaranteeing all the human rights and fundamental freedoms outlined above.
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights are covered by Articles 22-27. Economic, Social and Cultural Rights otherwise referred to as Ecosoc Rights, which are contained in the Declaration, are based on Article 22, which states in part, that Everyone is entitled to the realization of the rights indispensable for his dignity and free development of his personality.
Article 22 - Right to social security.
Article 23(b) - Right to equal pay for equal work.
Article 23-c Right to just and favourable wages.
Article 23(d) - Right to form and join trade union.
Article 24 - Right to rest and leisure.
Article 25 - Right to adequate standard of living including food, shelter, medicare, etc.
and provisions for the unemployed, widows, the sick, old people, disabled
by the State.
Article 26 - Right to education.
Article 27 - Right to participate in the cultural life of the community.
Under the foregoing Rights, Government is reasonably expected to try progressively to improve the living conditions of their citizens. The government should utilize to the maximum the available resources to guarantee right to food, clothing, housing and medical care., protection of the right to work by creating enabling environment, implementing right to social security, to give free basic education, employment and enjoyment of basic amenities to secure quality life and dignity. It is the primary duty of government to respect, protect and fulfill these rights without discrimination.
Article 28 - Everyone is subject to social and international order.
Article 29(a) - Everyone's duty to the community within which he or she develops his or her personality.
Article 29(b) - Duty of everyone to act within the limits of the law.
Article 30 - Neither government nor any person is allowed to perform any act or engage in any activity aimed at the destruction of the rights or freedoms set forth in UDHR.
It is noteworthy that realization of civil and political rights can only be possible with the enjoyment of social, economic and cultural rights.
Please note further that the third generation rights are not contained in UDHR but in African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights and other latest Human rights instruments.
Prepared by:
Bar. Chris. I.C. Nwadigo
President People's Rights Organization
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