Equality and human rights

EQUALITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS

BY ALINA MEHEDINTI

Equality and human rights

The foremost statement of the rights and freedoms of all human beings:

All human beings are born with equal and inalienable rights and fundamental freedoms

Preliminaries

Human rights are the basic rights and freedoms that belong to every person in the world.

Ideas about human rights have evolved over many centuries. But they achieved strong international support following the Holocaust and World War II. To protect future generations from a repeat of these horrors, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. For the first time, the Universal Declaration set out the fundamental rights and freedoms shared by all human beings.

On 10 December 1948 in Paris, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The Declaration was the first international recognition that all human beings have fundamental rights and freedoms and it continues to be a living and relevant document today.

The Universal Declaration is often considered the foundation stone for modern human rights. Since the Declaration was adopted in 1948 it has inspired over 80 international conventions and treaties, as well as numerous regional and domestic conventions, bills and legislation.

What are the human rights?

As social phenomenon, human rights have their origin in antiquity. In exchange, as legal phenomenon, human rights have been originated by the natural law doctrine, starting from the idea that humans, by their own nature, anywhere and anytime have rights that are previous and primary to the ones assigned by the society and admitted by the natural law. In other words, this is a superior right in relation to the expression of states will in various forms of its existence and unconditioned by the interests that the state might have in a moment of its historical evolution.

Originally, people had rights only because of their membership in a group, such as a family. Then, in 539 BC, Cyrus the Great, after conquering the city of Babylon, did something totally unexpectedhe freed all slaves to return home. Moreover, he declared people should choose their own religion. The Cyrus Cylinder, a clay tablet containing his statements, is the first human rights declaration in history.

The idea of human rights spread quickly to India, Greece and eventually Rome. The most important advances since then have included:

1215: The Magna Cartagave people new rights and made the king subject to the law.

1628: The Petition of Rightset out the rights of the people.

1776: The United States Declaration of Independenceproclaimed the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

1789: The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizena document of France, stating that all citizens are equal under the law.

1948: The Universal Declaration of Human Rightsthe first document listing the 30 rights to which everyone is entitled.

Human rights are based on core principles like dignity, fairness, equality, respect and autonomy. They are relevant to your day-to-day life and protect your freedom to control your own life, effectively take part in decisions made by public authorities which impact upon your rights and get fair and equal services from public authorities. Human rights are "basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled".

The doctrine of human rights aims to identify the necessary positive andnegativeprerequisites for a "universal" minimal standard ofjustice, tolerance and human dignity that can be consideredthe public moral norms owed by andto individuals by the mere virtue of their humanity. Such prerequisites can exist as sharednorms of actual human moralities, as justified moral norms ormoral rights supported by strong reasons, as legal rights at a national level, or asa legal right within international law.

Human rights advocates seek the strong protectionof human rights through their effective realisation in each of these ways. Theclaim of Human rights is therefore that they are universal, inthat they are possessed by all by virtue of thefact that they are human, andindependent in that their existence as moral standards of justification and criticism is independent whether or not they are recognized and by a particular national or international legal system. or government.

The general idea of Human rights has widespread acceptance, and the Charter of the United Nations which has been signed by virtually all sovereign states recognises the existence of human rights and it has been argued that the doctrine of human rights hasbecome the dominant moral doctrine for regulating and evaluating the moralstatus of the contemporary geo-political order. However, debate and disagreement over which rights are human rights, and about the precise nature, content, justification and appropriate legal status of those rights continues.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights has acted as the predominant modern codification of commonly accepted human rights principles and many national and international documents, treaties and instruments that have expanded on its principles and act as a collective expression of widespread conceptions of human rights by the international community. Examples of rights and freedoms which have come to be commonly thought of as human rights include civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of expression, and equality before the law; and economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to participate in culture, the right to be treated with respect anddignity, the right to food, the right to work, and the right to education.

"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." - Article 1 of the United Nations Declarationof Human Rights.

Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place ofresidence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status. Weare all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination. These rights are allinterrelated, interdependent and indivisible.Universal human rights are often expressed and guaranteed by law, in the forms of treaties,customary international law , general principles and other sources of international law.International human rights law lays down obligations of Governments to act in certain waysor to refrain from certain acts, in order to promote and protect human rights andfundamental freedoms of individuals orgroups.

Universal and inalienable

The principle of universality ofhuman rights is the cornerstone of international human rightslaw. This principle, as first emphasized in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights in1948, has been reiterated in numerous international human rights conventions,declarations, and resolutions. The 1993 Vienna World Conference on Human Rights, forexample, noted that it is the duty of States to promote and protect all human rights andfundamental freedoms, regardless of their political,economic and cultural systems.All States have ratified at least one, and 80% of States have ratified four or more, of thecore human rights treaties, reflecting consent of States which creates legal obligations forthem and giving concrete expression to universality. Some fundamental human rightsnorms enjoy universal protection by customary international law across all boundaries andcivilizations.Human rights are inalienable. They should not be taken away, except in specific situationsand according to due process. For example, theright to liberty may berestricted if a personis found guilty of acrime by a court of law.

Interdependent and indivisible

All human rights are indivisible, whether they are civil and political rights, such as the rightto life, equality before the law and freedom of expression; economic, social and culturalrights, such as the rights to work, social security and education , orcollective rights, such asthe rights to development and self-determination, are indivisible, interrelated andinterdependent. The improvement of one right facilitates advancement of the others.Likewise, the deprivation of one right adversely affects the others.

Equal and non-discriminatory

Non-discrimination is a cross-cutting principle in international human rights law. Theprinciple is present in all the major human rights treaties and provides the central theme ofsome of international human rightsconventions such as the International Convention on theElimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the Convention on the Elimination of AllForms of Discrimination against Women.The principle applies to everyone in relation to all human rights and freedoms and itprohibits discrimination on the basis of a list of non-exhaustive categories such as sex, race, colour and so on. The principle of non-discrimination is complemented by the principle ofequality.

Both Rights and Obligations

Human rights entail both rightsand obligations. States assume obligations and duties underinternational law to respect, to protect and to fulfil human rights.The obligation to respectmeans that States must refrain from interfering with or curtailing the enjoyment of humanrights.The obligation to protectrequires States to protect individuals and groups againsthuman rights abuses.The obligation to fulfilmeans that States must take positive action tofacilitate the enjoyment of basic human rights. At the individual level, while we are entitledour human rights, we should also respect the human rights of others.

Classification of the human rights

Human rights can be classified in a number of different ways. Some rights may fall into more than one of the available categories. One of the most widely used classifications distinguishes two general categories: classic or civil and political rights, and social rights that also include economic and cultural rights.

Civil rights: the freedom of speech, press, and assembly; the right to vote; freedom from involuntary servitude; and the right to equality in public places.

Social and economical rights: the right to education, the right to food, the right to health, the right to housing, the right to security, the right to work.

International human rights regimes are in several cases "nested" within more comprehensive and overlapping regional agreements. These regional regimes can be seen as relatively independently coherent human rights sub-regimes.

Three principal regional human rights instruments can be identified; the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, the American Convention on Human Rights (the Americas) and the European Convention on Human Rights. The European Convention on Human Rights has since 1950 defined and guaranteed human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe. All 47 member states of the Council of Europe have signed the Convention and are therefore under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

The European Union sees human rights as universal and indivisible. It actively promotes and defends them both within its borders and when engaging in relations with non-EU countries.

The European Union is founded on a strong engagement to promote and protect human rights, democracy and rule of law worldwide. Sustainable peace, development and prosperity cannot exist without respect for human rights. This commitment underpins all internal and external policies of the European Union. Within EU borders, those principles are embedded in the EU founding treaties, reinforced by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights adopted in 2000, and strengthened still further when the Charter became legally binding with the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009.

Outside EU borders, the Lisbon Treaty stipulates that the Union's action on the international scene shall be guided by the principles which have inspired its own creation, development and enlargement and which it seeks to advance in the wider world: democracy, the rule of law, the universality and indivisibility of human rights and fundamental freedoms, respect for human dignity, the principles of equality and solidarity and respect for the principles of the United Nations Charter and international law.

The story of human rights