Human Rights

Terminology 

‘Human rights’ includes a wide range of different rights from the basic ones to more subjective ones, however, they all involve the need of providing a dignified human existence. Human rights can be classified in several distinctions such as civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. 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, which means no right is more important than any other. 

 

1.- Classic and social rights 

One classification used for human rights is the division between ‘classic’ and ‘social’ rights. Classic rights entail an obligation for the state to refrain from certain actions, while social rights oblige it to provide certain guarantees. This classification is often used by lawyers to 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’). However, this distinction between becomes awkward considering 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. Another example is the organization of elections, which also entails high costs. 

Ironically, most ‘social’ rights include elements that require the state to abstain from interfering with the individual’s exercise of the right. For example, 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 the right to education implies the freedom to establish and direct educational establishments. 

 2.- Civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights

Civil rights:

The set of ‘physical integrity rights’, which make up a part of the civil rights, concern the right to life, liberty and security of person, protection from physical violence against the person, torture, inhuman treatment, arbitrary arrest, detention, exile, slavery, interference with one’s privacy and right of ownership, restriction of one’s freedom of movement, and the freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Another aspect included in these rights makes reference to equal treatment and protection in law, which certainly qualifies as a civil right. Moreover, this right plays an essential role in the realization of economic, social and cultural rights. 

Another group of civil rights is referred to under the collective term ‘due process rights’. These involve, among other things, to the right to a public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, the ‘presumption of innocence’, and legal assistance. 

Political rights:

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 in secret ballots. 

Economic and social rights:

These rights provide the conditions necessary for prosperity and well-being. Economic rights refer 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. 

Cultural rights:

They include 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. 

The alleged dichotomy

It has been argued over the years that there are fundamental differences between economic, social and cultural rights, differentiated away from civil and political rights. These two categories of rights have been seen as two different concepts and their differences have been characterized as a dichotomy. According to this point of view, civil and political rights are considered to be expressed imposing a non-intervention policy which do not require resources for their implementation, and therefore can be applied immediately. On the other hand, economic, social and cultural rights are considered to be expressed involving a progressive realization and need for resources. 

Many international fora (plural of forum) have elaborated on the indivisibility and interdependency of human rights. As stated in the 1993 Vienna Declaration: ‘All human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent and interrelated. The international community must treat human rights globally in a fair and equal manner, on the same footing, and with the same emphasis.’ The European Union (EU) and its member states also made reference to the importance of the view that both categories of human rights are of equal importance, in the sense that an existence worthy of human dignity is only possible if both civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights are enjoyed. 

The adoption of the Optional Protocol on the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, on 10 December 2008, represents an historic advance for human rights. This because economic, social and cultural rights - historically demoted to an inferior status with limited protection - were now finally considered on an equal footing with civil and political rights. 

3.- Fundamental and basic rights 

Fundamental rights include right to life and the inviolability of the person. Within the United Nations, extensive standards have been developed which, particularly since the 1960s, have been laid down in numerous conventions, declarations and resolutions, and which bring already recognized rights and matters of policy affecting human development. 

Another approach is to distinguish a number of ‘basic rights’, which should be given absolute priority in national and international policy. These include all the rights which concern people’s primary material and non-material needs. If these are not provided, no human being can lead a dignified existence. Basic rights include the right to life, the right to a minimum level of security, the inviolability of the person, freedom from slavery and torture, unlawful deprivation of liberty, discrimination and other similar acts. We can also include freedom of thought, conscience and religion, as well as the right to suitable nutrition, clothing, shelter and medical care, and other essentials crucial to physical and mental health. 

4.- Other classifications

Freedoms:

Preconditions for a dignified human existence have often been described in terms of freedoms (e.g., freedom of movement, freedom from torture and freedom from arbitrary arrest). Probably the most notorious reference to this point of view comes from the United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who summarized these preconditions in his famous ‘Four Freedoms Speech’ to the United States Congress on 26 January 1941: 

• Freedom of speech and expression; 
• Freedom of belief (the right of every person to worship God in his own way); 
• Freedom from want (economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peace-time life for its inhabitants); 
• Freedom from fear (this means the world-wide reduction of military power to such point that no nation is able to commit acts of physical aggression against any other one). 

Roosevelt implied that a dignified human existence requires not only protection from oppression and arbitrariness, but also access to the primary necessities of life. 

Civil liberties 

Civil liberties refer primarily to those human rights which are laid down in the United States Constitution: freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of expression, freedom of association and assembly, protection against interference with one’s privacy, protection against torture, the right to a fair trial, and the rights of workers. This classification does not correspond to the distinction between civil and political rights. 

Individual and collective rights 

Although the fundamental purpose of human rights is the protection and development of the individual (individual rights), some of these rights are exercised by people in groups (collective rights). Freedom of association and assembly, freedom of religion and, more especially, the freedom to form or join a trade union, are some examples of this category. The collective element is even more evident when human rights are linked specifically to membership of a certain group, such as the right of members of ethnic and cultural minorities to preserve their own language and culture. One must make a distinction between two types of rights, which are usually called collective rights: individual rights enjoyed in association with others, and the rights of a collective. 

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. 

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 is the right to development. The Vienna Declaration confirms the right to development as a collective and individual right, since individuals are being regarded as the primary subjects of development. 

Source

• http://www.humanrights.is/en/human-rights-education-project/human-rights-concepts-ideas-and-fora/part-i-the-concept-of-human-rights/definitions-and-classifications