The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on December 10, 1948. The UDHR outlines the fundamental
rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled without discrimination,
declaring, “All human beings 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.” Everybody has human
rights. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from, what language you
speak or what religion you belong to. You have a duty to respect the rights of
others, just as they have a duty to respect yours and nobody can take your
rights away. Adopted not long after the horrors of World War II, the
UDHR was the UN’s first declaration regarding human rights and freedoms. More
than sixty years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, the importance of human rights is well established in the international
community. In an effort to prepare the declaration for implementation,
the General Assembly charged the Commission on Human Rights with drafting
covenants for the two subcomponents of rights in the declaration: Civil and
Political (CP) rights and Economic, Social, and Cultural (ESC) rights.
Following a lengthy drafting process and extensive input from participating
governments, the Commission completed the two documents almost twenty years
after the adoption of the UDHR. The General Assembly adopted the
International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) on December
16, 1966.
I. Civil and Political (CP) Rights
CP rights related to the
protection of individual liberties. The ICCPR establishes basic CP rights
like the rights to life and freedom from discrimination, but also establishes
protections for individual participation in political and civil matters,
including freedom of speech and belief, right to due process of law, to vote
and participate in government.
1. Right to life
1. Right to life
The right to life is
considered a fundamental human right because, without it, enjoyment of all of
the other rights and freedoms established in international human rights
Conventions would be rendered nugatory; there can be no rights if there is no
life. In the right to life, it is considered that states parties should take
all possible measures to reduce infant mortality and to increase life
expectancy, especially measures to eliminate malnutrition and epidemics.
The right to life also includes
the right to dignity and the right to livelihood. It is the duty of
the State to protect human life against unwarranted actions by public
authorities as well as by private persons. The duty of the State to protect the
right has been interpreted broadly, including the duties to prohibit arbitrary
killing by agents of the State and to strictly control and limit the
circumstances in which a person may be deprived of life by state authorities, to
conduct some form of effective official investigation when individuals have
been killed as a result of the use of force by agents of the State, to secure
the right to life by making effective provisions in criminal law to deter the
commission of offenses against the person, to establish law-enforcement
machinery for the prevention, suppression, investigation and penalization of
breaches of criminal law, in certain well-defined circumstances, a positive
duty to take preventative operational measures to protect an individual whose
life is at risk from the criminal acts of another individual, to take measures
to protect the life of a person held in custody , to ensure that a person being extradited or
deported is not exposed to a real risk of violation of right to life in the
receiving State.
2. Freedom from discrimination
2. Freedom from discrimination
Freedom from
discrimination refers to the right to be treated equally without any
discrimination, such as sex (including pregnancy and childbirth), marital
status, religious belief, ethical belief, color, race, ethnic or national
origin (including nationality or citizenship), disability, age, political
opinion, employment status, family status and sexual orientation. Thus, the
right to equal treatment requires that all persons be treated equally before the
law, without discrimination. The principle of equality and non-discrimination
guarantees that those in equal circumstances are dealt with equally in law and
practice. However, it is important to stress that not every distinction or
difference in treatment will amount to discrimination.
Freedom from
discrimination is not just the formal recognition of equal rights in law, but
means substantive equality and ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to
enjoy rights equally. It claims that no matter who you are, what your status
is, what religion you believe, male or female, everyone has equal right. It
follows that not all distinctions or different treatment constitute
discrimination, and equality does not mean treating everybody the same.
3. Freedom of speech and believe
3. Freedom of speech and believe
The freedom of speech often
goes hand in hand with the endeavor to limit the power of governments. The
freedom of speech can be considered an essential aspect of the individual’s defense against government. Human rights defenders also rely heavily on this
right to challenge government indifference to or infliction of human rights
abuses. The freedom of speech is a complex right that includes the freedom to
seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds through any media. Freedom
of speech has a special status as a human right because we need it to promote
and protect all human rights. It embraces free speech, the sanctity of an
individual’s opinion, a free press, the transmission and receipt of ideas and
information, the freedom of expression in art and other forms, the ability to
receive ideas from elsewhere, and even the right to silence. The
freedom to seek information means a person has a right of access to
information, subject only to prescribed limitations, and the freedom to receive
information basically prohibits a Government from restricting that freedom. The
freedom to impart or convey opinions to others implies that the right to
express includes dissemination, such as by newspapers or the mass media.
The right to
freedom of religion and belief includes the right to hold a belief, the right
to change one’s religion or belief, the right to express one’s religion or
belief, and the right not to hold a belief. The right to believe is not limited
to religion. It also includes atheistic beliefs, as well as matters of
conscience such as pacifism and conscientious objection to military service. The
right to express a belief encompasses a range of activities including assembling
for worship and the establishment of places of worship, establishing
humanitarian institutions, using articles and materials or customs related to
the belief, writing and disseminating religious material , teaching religion or
belief at suitable places, soliciting and receiving voluntary financial
contributions, training, appointing, electing or designating religious leaders,
observing religious holidays and ceremonies, establishing and maintaining
religious networks.
4. Right to Due Process of law
4. Right to Due Process of law
In a broad sense, due
process of law is interpreted here as the right to be treated fairly,
efficiently and effectively by the administration of justice. The rights to due
process of law place limitations on laws and legal proceedings, in order to
guarantee fundamental fairness and justice. The rights to due process of law
guarantees quality in terms of administration of justice, quality in terms of
protection of the rights of the parties involved, efficiency and effectiveness.
The right to a fair trial does not focus on a single issue, but rather consists
of a complex set of rules and practices. A number of individual rights and
principles related to the right to a fair trial have been developed, including:
the right to a fair hearing; the right to a public hearing and pronouncement of
judgment; equality of arms; presumption of innocence; freedom from compulsory
self-incrimination; the right to know the accusation; adequate time and
facilities to prepare a defense; the right to legal assistance; the right to
examine witnesses; the right to an interpreter; the right to appeal in criminal
matters; the rights of juvenile offenders; and no punishment without law.
5. Right to vote and participate in government
5. Right to vote and participate in government
The right to vote and
participate is a composite of the right and opportunity to vote, the right and
opportunity to be elected and the freedom of association, including the right
to form and join organizations and associations concerned with political and
public affairs, which is an essential adjunct to the right.
The Human Rights
Committee has emphasized the duty of the state to ensure that people entitled
to vote are able to exercise that right. Interference with voting should be
prohibited by penal law and the states should take measures to overcome
specific difficulties impeding the free enjoyment of the right, such as
language, illiteracy or poverty. Furthermore, participation and political
rights form part of the right to self-determination, the right of peoples to
‘freely determine their political status and to enjoy the right to choose the
form of their constitution or government. To participate in one's government is
the duty of all adult citizens. People should be able to participate in
decision-making process, especially those that affect them and their children's
future. It is the duty of every citizen to contribute to their national
development and work for the betterment of their societies. It should be noted
that citizens must participate socially and economically in running the affairs
of their governments. Hence, government cannot do all, individuals in their
local communities must be engaged in activities that improve their lives, such
as setting up community development programs, and to engage in honest open
debates on issues affecting their communities.
II. Economic, social, and
cultural (ESC) Rights
Economic, social, and cultural
(ESC) rights are those that enable people to meet basic human subsistence and
socioeconomic needs. The ESC rights in the ICESCR include the rights to
health, to housing, to food, to education, to work, and the right to social
security.
1. Right
to health
In the right to health,
states should provide the following basic services such as access to maternal
and child health care, including family planning; immunization against the
major infectious diseases; appropriate treatment of common diseases and
injuries; d) essential drugs; e) adequate supply of safe water and basic
sanitation; and freedom from serious
environmental health threats. The obligation to respect the right to health
includes the obligation to respect equal access to health services, on the one
hand, and the obligation to refrain from activities that are detrimental to
health such as environmental pollution, on the other. The obligation to protect
the right to health includes the obligation to take legislative and other
measures to ensure that people have equal access to health services provided by
third parties, and the obligation to protect people from health infringements
by third parties. Finally, the obligation to fulfill includes the adoption by
the state of a national health policy, and that it devotes a sufficient
percentage of its available budget to health.
2. Right to housing
The right to adequate
housing derives from the right to an adequate standard of living and is of
central importance for the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural
rights. The right to adequate housing is enshrined in most major human rights
instruments adopted by the United Nations. Individuals, as well as families,
are entitled to adequate housing regardless of factors such as age, economic
status, group or other affiliation or status. Thus, the enjoyment of this right
may not be subject to any form of discrimination. The right to housing means
more than just a roof over one’s head. It should be seen as the right to live
somewhere in security, peace, and dignity. For housing to be adequate it must
be situated so as to allow access to employment, health care services, schools,
childcare centers and other social facilities. It must not be located in
polluted areas. The notion of adequacy differs from country to country, but the
right to adequate housing should not be interpreted in a narrow sense as merely
having a roof over one’s head. Adequate housing implies the right to live
somewhere in security, peace and dignity. Certain elements need to be taken
into account at all times, according to the Committee. These are: security of
tenure; for example, legal protection from eviction; availability of services;
for example, sustainable access to water, sanitation and emergency services; affordability;
for example, housing costs as a ratio of income ; habitability; for example,
the soundness of physical structure, dampness, and crowding; accessibility; for
example, by all ethnic, racial, national minority or other social groups ; location;
for example, in relation to employment and schools; and cultural adequacy; for
example, taking into account traditional housing patterns.
3.
Right to food
The right to food is a human right recognized
under international law which protects the right of all human beings to feed
themselves in dignity, either by producing their food or by purchasing it. To produce his or her own food, a person needs
land, seeds, water and other resources, and to buy it, one needs money and
access to the market. The right to food protects the right of all human beings
to be free from hunger,
food insecurity
and malnutrition.
The right to food does not imply that governments have an obligation to hand
out free food to everyone who wants it, or a right to be fed. However, if
people are deprived of access to food for reasons beyond their control, for
example, because they are in detention, in times of war or after natural
disasters, the right requires the government to provide food directly.
The right to food therefore requires States to provide an enabling
environment in which people can use their full potential to produce or procure
adequate food for themselves and their families. To purchase food, a person
needs adequate incomes: the right to food consequently requires States to
ensure that wage policies or social safety nets enable citizens to realize
their right to adequate food. The right to food is a human, legal and clearly
defined right which gives rise to obligations of states to reduce both chronic
undernourishment and malnutrition. It protects the right of all human beings to
live in dignity, free from hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition. The right
to food is not about charity, but about ensuring that all people have the
capacity to feed themselves in dignity.
4. The right to education
Education is imperative
to the promotion of human rights; it is both a human right in itself and an
indispensable means of realizing other human rights. It is the precondition for
the enjoyment of many economic, social and cultural rights; for instance, the
right to receive higher education on the basis of ability, the right to enjoy
the benefits of scientific progress and the right to choose work can only be
exercised in a meaningful way after a minimum level of education is reached.
Education is vital to empowering women, to safeguarding children from
exploitation and hazardous labor, to the promotion of human rights and
democracy and to the protection of the environment. Education, however, is
frequently discussed in the language of economics. Governments often simply
equate an investment in education with an investment in the national economy.
Educational services, especially at the tertiary level, are habitually
considered tradable goods - removed from a wider human rights context. Core
elements of the right to education, including entitlement to free and
compulsory primary education, availability of different forms of secondary
education, access to higher education on the basis of capacity and on
non-discriminatory terms, and protection and improvement of conditions for
teachers.
5. The right to work
The right to work, in a
broad sense, implies the right to enter employment, to free choice of employment,
to form and join trade unions, to favorable conditions of work,
non-discrimination and the right not to be deprived of employment unfairly. The
first component encompasses the factors that come into play regarding access to
work; such as education, vocational training, and unemployment levels. The
latter component deals with issues regarding employment security, for instance,
security from being fired unjustly.
The main elements of the
right to work are access to employment, freedom from forced labor and labor
security. Other important components are: the freedom to work; freedom
concerning the choice of occupation as well as the place of performance; the
right to earn a living from work of one’s own choice, encompassing the freedom
to establish one’s own independent form of employment or business; the right to
free employment services; the right to safe and healthy working conditions, as
well as rest, leisure and reasonable working hours; the right to employment;
the right not to be arbitrarily dismissed and the right to protection against
unemployment.
6. Right to social security
The right to social security is
recognized as a human right and establishes the right to social security
assistance for those unable to work due to sickness, disability, maternity,
employment injury, unemployment or old age. Social security systems provided
for by states consist of social insurance
programs, which provide earned benefits for workers and their families by
employment contributions, and/or social assistance programs which provide
non-contributory benefits designed to provide minimum levels of social security
to persons unable to access social insurance. The right to social security
offers protection to the most vulnerable members of society. It guarantees that
everyone will be provided with the minimum goods and services required for a
dignified life. It is the duty of the state to make sure that everyone in its
territory is afforded protection against accidents, hardship, and sickness. It
is the obligation of the state to make sure that they are provided with
adequate food, healthcare, housing, and are protected against adversities.
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