WHAT ARE HUMAN RIGHTS AND WHY MUST THEY BE PROTECTED?
These are rights that one acquires by being alive. All persons have the right to full enjoyment of essential rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right to equal Civil, Political, Economic, Cultural, and Social opportunities. At Commoner Concerns Centre, we hold these rights dearly and ensure that they are protected at whatever cost, regardless of one’s social status.
Below is a brief introduction to each of the four categories of rights plus a short definition of some related terms:
- CIVIL RIGHTS
These rights are absolute and must be provided in any civilised society, i.e. they are rights that one obtains by being a legal member of a certain political state. They are personal rights guaranteed and protected by the constitution of any civilised state.
They are expansive and significant set of rights that are designed to protect individuals from unfair treatment, i.e. they are the rights of individuals to receive equal treatment in a number of settings such as education, housing, employment, among others. These rights also deal with legal protections such as the right to vote.
These rights include: the right of protection from unfair/unlawful treatment or discrimination such as discrimination in employment or the discrimination against people living with disabilities, among others; right to a fair trial; right to government services; right to use public facilities; right to a public education, etc. Under these rights, we have: Civil Liberties and the right to equality/civil equality.
- POLITICAL RIGHTS
The term ‘political rights’ encompasses traditional human rights, such as life, liberty, security of person, and freedom of expression. These are rights that involve participation in the establishment or administration of a government. They are given to the citizens by the state by ensuring that every citizen has a right to vote irrespective of religion, colour, caste, and language differences. These rights include: the right to condemn the policies and actions of the government; the right to equality before the law and the right to participate in the political process such as: the right to vote and elect representatives, the right to contest elections, the right to form political parties or join them, the right to hold public office; the right to petition; the right to criticise; the right of access to the same processes and opportunities; the right to natural justice (procedural fairness) in law, such as the right of the accused, including to right to fair trial; due process; the right to seek redress or a legal remedy; and the rights of participation in civil society and politics such as freedom of association.
- ECONOMIC RIGHTS
These are the rights that ensure the entitlement to basic needs such as food, and shelter, among others. Everyone has economic right to associate with and combine their interests with others. The characteristics of economic freedom are typically thought to include the right to acquire, own, use, and inherit property as long as one is guided by the rule of law. The right to exchange goods and services in open markets, at home and internationally in accordance with the law also falls within this category. These rights include the right to property, earn a wage, choose your own work and change your employment, and work in a safe condition, among others.
- CULTURAL RIGHTS
The term ‘cultural rights’ refers to a claimed entitlement on the part of identity groups. These kinds of entitlements, i.e. cultural rights, are not vested in individuals. They are typically based on groups such as religion, ethnicity, ethnic minorities indigenous societies, language, or nationality and imply some form of political or legal recognition. Such groups should be able to express and maintain their traditions or practices.
These are rights related to art and culture, both understood in a large sense. The objective of these rights is to guarantee that people and communities have access to culture and can freely participate in the cultural life of the community, enjoy the arts, and share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
All cultures are brought up differently, therefore cultural rights include a group’s ability to preserve its culture, to raise its children in the ways it forebears, to continue its language, among others. In addition, the group also has the right to have their Indigenous technologies being recognised alongside science in the development of the nation.
- SOCIAL RIGHTS
These rights arise from social contracts. For example, James Madison advocates that a right such as trial by jury arose neither from nature nor from a constitution of government, but from reified implications of social contract. Social rights concern basic necessities of life and how people live and work together. They are based on the ideas of equality and guaranteed access to essential social and economic goods, services, and opportunities.
These rights are necessarily contingent on a society’s level of economic development, thus, are key in improving the lives of individuals and communities.
They include: right to: an adequate standard of living, affordable housing, food, education, an equitable health system, and social security based on respect, not sanctions; equal opportunities for all; jobs, club membership and promotions. The right to life covers within its ambit the right to social security and protection of the family.
OTHER RELATED TERMS
Inalienable Rights/ Natural Rights
These are rights that cannot be taken away from someone, denied, or transferred to someone else – they cannot be restrained or repealed by human laws. All persons are born free and therefore have a right to these rights. They include the right to pursue life’s basic necessities; of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties, of acquiring; possessing, and protecting property, and of seeking their safety, health, and happiness in all lawful ways.
Social Equality & Equity
The focus here is on the equivalent/equal treatment of and opportunity for members of different groups within society. It requires the absence of legally enforced social class or caste boundaries and the absence of discrimination motivated by an inalienable part of a person’s identity. It is a state of affairs in which all individuals within a specific society have equal rights, liberties, and status, possibly including civil rights, freedom of expression, autonomy, and equal access to certain public goods and social services.
Sex, gender, race, age, sexual orientation, origin, caste or social class, income or property, language, religion, ethnicity, convictions, opinions, health, disability, or other characteristics or circumstances must absolutely not result in unequal treatment under the law and should not reduce opportunities unjustifiably.
However, there is a slight difference between the two: Social Equality is a state of affairs in which all individuals within society have equal rights, liberties, and status. It asserts that individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities. On the other hand, Social Equity, on the other hand, recognises that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome. Its focus is on social justice and fairness. It accepts that each person is exposed to different conditions due to race, gender, income, sexual orientation, religion, or ability.
Contemporary theme of Social Equality& Equity
Is to eliminate gender inequality, to ensure equal status and opportunities for the women and to ensure equal rights for male and female children to live and develop.
What is Social Status/Status?
Is the level of social value a person is considered to hold, with attendant rights, duties, and lifestyle, in a social hierarchy based upon honour or prestige. More specifically, it refers to the relative level of respect, honour, assumed competence, and deference accorded to people, groups, and organisations in society.
Social/ Socio – Economic Status (SES)
This is the social standing or class of an individual or group. It is an economic and social combined total measure of person’s or group’s economic and social position in relation to others. It is often based on/measured as a combination of education, income, and occupation. However, SES is more commonly used to depict an economic difference in society as a whole. Examinations of socioeconomic status often reveal inequalities in access to resources, plus issues relating to privilege, power, and control. By knowing people from high society, or belonging to such society, there is a good chance of getting a job done easily. If one is not connected to such society, even if one is highly talented and qualified, it shall be next to impossible for such an individual to get good opportunities.
What is Social Development?
This is related to the improvements in health, education, housing, clean water, etc. and social status as a whole.
What are Socio-cultural Variables?
These include: corruption, economic freedom, schooling and human capital.
What does the term ‘Socio-political’ mean?
Is something that involves a combination of social and political factors. Environmental conversation is one example because it is influenced by both social attitudes towards ‘going green’ and by political policies.
What are Socio-political Factors?
Are defined as ‘factors with a significant social dimension (e.g. acceptance, opposition, etc.), which have either underlying social, economic, or political root causes and/or consequences within the social, economic or political spheres.’
What is Social Security?
It is the protection that a society provides to individuals and households to ensure access to health care and to guarantee income security, particularly in cases of old age, unemployment, sickness, invalidity, work injury, maternity or loss of a breadwinner.
Socio-economic Human Rights/ Social and Economic Rights
These rights include economic, social and cultural rights and are well defined in Article 22-26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
They include social security, conditions of work, rest and leisure, standards of living, education, health, victims’ rights, and the right to science and culture, among others.
Socio-economics/ Social Economics
This is the social science that studies how economic activity affects and is shaped by social processes.
Socio-Economic Challenges
These challenges grip a country and affect the citizen’s quality of life. They include: poverty, high unemployment rates, social inequality, inadequate public services, among others.
Economic, Social & Cultural Rights (ESCR)
These are human rights concerning the basic social and economic conditions. They are also termed as: freedoms, privileges, and entitlements that individuals and communities require to live a life of dignity and freedom. These rights are recognised in international human rights law as key components that are central to human survival and development. They are important tool to hold states and non-state actors accountable for violations and also to mobilise collective efforts to develop communities and global frameworks conducive to economic justice, social well-being, participation, and equality.
They include the right to: adequate food, wage employment, and standards of living, housing, health, education, clean water, a healthy environment, and proper sanitation.
They are also referred to as secondary generation rights and include rights of the individuals or group to receive social provision or services to achieve full potential as human beings.
Why are Economic, Social & Cultural Rights (ESCR) treated differently from Civil and Political Rights?
It is commonly thought that economic, social, and cultural rights are harder for states to commit to because their protection requires a lot of resources/high levels of investment. Civil and political rights on the other hand, are thought to need less resources in order to protect because they simply require the state not to interfere.
Rights may be considered Positive or Negative
Positive and negative rights are rights that oblige either inaction or action. These obligations may be of either a legal or moral character. The notion of positive and negative rights may also be applied to liberty rights.
If an individual has positive rights, it implies that other people have positive duties (to take certain actions); whereas negative rights imply that others have negative duties (to avoid certain other actions).A negative right restrains other persons or governments by limiting their actions towards or against the right holder; whereas positive rights provide the right holder with a claim against another person or the state for some good, service, or treatment.
Positive rights, therefore, are rights that provide something that people need to secure their well-being. These rights are sometimes called entitlements. Economic, social, and cultural rights fall under this category of rights. Examples include: right to education, food, medical care, housing, or the right to a job. Other civil and political rights such as police protection of person and property and the right to counsel are also positive rights.
Negative rights may include civil and political rights such as: freedom of speech; right to: life, habeas corpus, fair trial and private property; freedom from violent crime; protection against being defrauded; freedom of religion, and the right not to be enslaved by another.
What are Civil Liberties?
These refer to personal freedoms protected by the Bill of Rights. They are the freedoms guaranteed to us by the Constitution to protect us from tyranny or State power. They are rooted in the Constitution, thus limiting the powers of the government. The government cannot take away the freedoms outlined in the Bill of Rights, and any action that encroaches on these liberties is illegal. They include freedom of: speech, religion, press; freedom against unwanted searches of your home or property; freedom to have a fair court trial; freedom to remain silent in a police interrogation, among others. However, it is important to note that: the right to marry is a civil liberty while gay marriage is a civil rights matter. If a couple (either same-sex or opposite-sex) is denied a marriage license, then their civil liberties have been violated.
What is Civil Equality/ Right to Equality?
This refers to all persons in a society having the same status/being equal in the eyes of the law, and therefore, all should get equal protection of the law. All have the same status in terms of civil rights, freedom of expression and equal access to various social goods and services. This denotes that law and order are equal for everybody, regardless of who they are. The state should therefore not discriminate against any citizen on the grounds of religion, race, language, caste or sex.
Contemporary theme of Civil Equality
Is elaborated as the grant of equal rights and freedoms to all the people and social groups.
Effects of Civil Rights
Civil rights movements helped spawn a national crisis that forced the intervention of the government in the United States of America to overturn segregation laws.
Civil and Political Rights
This is a class of rights that protect individuals’ freedom from infringement by governments, social organisations and private individuals. They ensure one’s ability to participate in the civil and political life of the society and state without discrimination or repression. Simply put, they refer to the freedom to do something within a society. These rights include: the right to freedom of religion, right to life, freedom of assembly, electoral rights, and rights to due process and fair trial. They do not give people anything tangible and can only be enjoyed if the state refrains from interfering with individual rights.
What is Welfare Economics?
This is the study of how the allocation of resources and goods affects social welfare. This relates directly to the study of economic efficiency and income distribution, as well as how these two factors affect the overall well-being of people in the economy.
Economic Equality and Equity?
This is the concept or idea of fairness in economics, particularly in regard to taxation or welfare economics. Economic Equality focuses on a level playing field where everyone has the same access to the same wealth; whereas Economic Equity is the fairness and distribution of economic wealth, tax liability, resources, and assets in a society.
What are Economic Factors?
These include income distribution, employment, spending on fixed capital, among others.
What is Economic Development?
This is a process whereby an economy’s real national income increases over a long period of time.