Human Rights in UNDHR

2. HUMAN RIGHTS AND
INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS

3. MEANING OF HUMAN RIGHTS
 Human Beings are rational beings. They by virtue of
their being human possess certain basic and
inalienable rights which are commonly known as
human rights.
 Human Rights are defined as all those rights which
are essential for the protection and maintenance of
dignity of individuals and create conditions in which
every human being can develop his personality to the
fullest extent may be termed as human rights.
 Human rights become operative with the birth of an
individual. Human rights, being the birth right, are
inherent in all the individuals irrespective of their
caste, religion, sex and nationality.

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 Because of their immense significance to human
beings ; human rights are also sometimes
referred to as fundamental rights, basic rights,
inherent rights, natural rights and birth rights.
 The World conference On Human Rights held in
1993 in Vienna stated in the Declaration that all
human rights derive from the dignity and worth
inherent in the human person , and that the
human person is the central subject of human
rights and fundamental rights.

5. INTRODUCTION
Even though the origin of human rights is ancient, the
international concern with human rights may be said to be of
comparatively recent origin. The UN Charter marks the advent
of systematic human rights protection within the International
system.
The idea of human rights is as old as humanity, its systematic
proclamation and declaration are more recent. The world’s first
bill of human rights was discovered on a clay tablet dating back
from the reign of Cyrus the Great (555- 529 BC).
The documents which form the historical foundation of modern
human rights jurisprudence are the English Bill of Rights
(1688), the American Declaration of Independence (1776) and
the French Declaration of Rights of Man (1789).The legal
process in the universality of human rights effectively
commenced with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
1948 (UDHR).

6. MODERN HUMAN RIGHTS
 Human rights is one of such rights which has been conferred to
individuals by the states in the modern International Law.
 The modern perspective to human rights is reflected in the Vienna
Declaration adopted by the World conference on Human rights in
June 1993. The declaration categorically states that all human rights
are universal, indivisible and interdependent and inter-related and
that democracy, development and respect for human rights and
fundamental freedoms are interdependent and mutually reinforcing.
The conference reaffirmed the right to development as a universal
inalienable right and an integral part of the fundamental human
rights.
 The legal process in the universality of human rights effectively
commenced with the universal declaration of human rights 1948
(UDHR). Adoption of the UN charter in the aftermath of the Second
World War can rightly be considered as a landmark in the journey
towards universal acceptance of human rights.

7. BASIC PRINCIPLES
• Through a long process of evolution, modern human rights
jurisprudence has crystallized into three basic principles:
• 1. The principle of universal inherence:
• Every human being has certain rights, capable of
being enumerated and defined which are not conferred on him by
any ruler, nor earned or acquired by purchase, but which inhere
in him by virtue of his humanity alone.
• 2. The principle of inalienability:
No human being can be deprived of any of those
rights by the acts of any ruler or even by his own act or in a
democracy even by the will of the majority of the sovereign people.
3. The rule of Law :
Where rights conflict with each other, the conflicts
must be resolved by the consistent, independent and impartial
application of just laws in accordance with just procedures.

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An individual can seek human rights only
in an organized community, i.e. a state , or in other words
where the civil social order exists. Thus the principle of
protection of human rights is derived from the concept of
man as a person and his relationship with an organized
society which cannot be separated from universal human
nature.
• Human rights being essential for all- round
development of the personality of the individuals in the
society be necessarily protected and be made available to
all the individuals. They must be preserved, cherished and
defended if peace and prosperity are to be achieved .
Human rights are the very essence of a meaningful life
and to maintain human dignity is the ultimate purpose of
the government.

9. KINDS OF HUMAN RIGHTS
There are two kinds of human
rights :
1. Civil and political rights.
2. Economic social and cultural
rights

10. CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS:
• Civil rights and liberties are referred to those rights which are related to
the protection of the right to life and personal liberty . They are essential
for a person so that he may live a dignified life. such rights include right
to life, liberty , right to privacy, freedom from torture and right to own
property. These rights also known as (freedom from).
• Whereas political rights may be referred to those rights which allow a
person to participate in the government of a state. For e.g. right to vote,
right to be elected and right to take part in conduct of public affairs.
• The nature of both civil and political rights may be different but they are
inter-related and therefore it does not appear logical to differentiate
them. This reason led to the formulation of one covenant covering both
civil and political rights into one covenant i.e. International Covenant on
civil and political rights.

11. ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL
RIGHTS:
• Economic, social and cultural rights are based fundamentally
on the concept of social equality( also called ‘freedom to’) are
related to the guarantee of minimum necessities of the life to
human beings . In the absence of these rights the existence of
human beings is like to be endangered.
• Right to adequate food, clothing, housing and adequate
standard of living and freedom from hunger, right to work ,
right to social security, right to physical and mental health and
right to education are included in this category of rights.
• These rights sometimes called positive rights require active
intervention, not abstentions on the part of the states. The
enjoyment of these rights requires a major commitment of
resources and therefore their realization cannot be immediate
as in the case of civil and political rights.

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• Although the United Nations has recognized the
above two sets of rights in two separate Covenants i.e.
International covenant on civil and political rights (
ICCPR) and International covenant on economic
social and cultural rights ( ICESCR) there is a close
relationship between them. It has been rightly
realized especially by the developing countries that
civil and political rights can have no meaning unless
they are accompanied by social, economic and cultural
rights. Thus both categories of rights are equally
important and where civil and political rights do not
exist, there cannot be full realization of economic,
social and cultural rights and vice versa.

13. INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS
LAW
International human rights law has been developing extensively
since the creation of the United Nations. The most fundamental
point about human rights law is that it establishes a set of rules
for all the people of all the states.
Human rights is international in the sense of it being universal,
applying to all the individual. However, international human
rights law refers mainly to the obligations of states to individuals
within their jurisdiction. When states fail to assure realization of
human rights to the individuals within their jurisdiction
international obligation arises.
Thus, obligations to provide human rights individuals is mainly
intra-national and in some cases international. Thus a state is
not free to treat its nationals as it pleases despite the fact that it
is sovereign. The greatest impact of human rights law has been to
erode the absolute control which a state had in the classical
period.

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• The efforts for the creation of an international organization, in
order to establish peace, were being made even when the
World War II was in progress. Many declarations adopted by
the conference laid down the importance of human rights. The
declaration of the United Nations signed on January 1,1942 at
Washington was the first document which used the term
human rights. • Thus, human rights became a matter of
International concern with the end of World War II and the
founding of the United Nations. Since then international
human rights law has been developing in an unprecedented
way and has become a very substantive part of International
law as a whole. Although there is no global government as
such to protect human rights, it is being protected by the
various bodies of the United Nations and the inter-
governmental organizations.

15. PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF HUMAN
RIGHTS BY THE UNITED NATIONS
• The prime responsibility for the promotion of human rights under
the U.N Charter rests in the General Assembly, in the Economic
and Social Council and its subsidiary body i.e. the council on
human rights.
• • The term protection of human rights which may mean
implementation and enforcement action does not find place in the
U.N Charter. When human rights violations assume massive
dimensions, the General Assembly and other organs of the UN
can initiate discussion and action. Among the United Nations
agencies only the Security Council and the International Court of
Justice can engage in enforcement action; only they have a
competence to pass a binding resolution or issue a binding
judgment. Enforcement is thus the authoritative application of
human rights.

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• The United Nations in the past has been able to promote
and protect human rights by certain ways which are as
follows:
1. Human Rights Consciousness-
The first and the most important role which the
United Nations has played is that it has made the people
and the states conscious about the human rights and
fundamental freedoms.
2. Codification of the law of human rights-
The United Nations has codified the different
rights and freedoms by making treaties for all sections of
the people such as women, child, workers, refugees, etc.

17. COUNCIL ON HUMAN RIGHTS
The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) ,
a principal organ of the United Nations was most
directly concerned with the question of human
rights. The Council under Article 68 of the U.N
Charter was empowered to set up commissions for
the promotion of human rights and such other
commissions as may be required for the
performance of its functions. The council may also
meets annually in Geneva for six weeks beginning
in March. The commission may also meet between
annual sessions to deal with urgent human rights
situations.

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• The council as determined by its terms
of reference was directed to prepare
recommendations and reports on the following
items:
• On international bill of rights
• International declarations and conventions on civil
liberties, the status of women, freedom of
information .
• The protection of minorities.
• The prevention of discrimination on grounds of
race, language or religion

19. UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF
HUMAN RIGHTS
• The idea for the protection for human rights and fundamental
freedoms was conceived in the Atlantic Charter (1941) and in
the Declaration of the United Nations (1942).
• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in
1948 with an aim to enumerate human rights for all the
people. The UDHR has inspired a rich body of legally binding
international human rights treaties. It continues to be an
inspiration to all whether in addressing injustices, in times of
conflicts and in our efforts towards achieving universal
enjoyment of human rights.
• The Preamble of the Universal Declaration proclaims the
declaration as a common standard of achievement of all people
and all nations.

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• The Universal Declaration contains 30 Articles . It
enumerate the basic principles of human rights in a
most comprehensive manner. Out of 30 articles ,
while 21 articles enumerated civil and political
rights, 6 articles cover economic and social rights.
• It is to be noted that the Universal Declaration does
not permit a state to derogate from their obligations
in public emergency which threatens the life of the
nation. Thus even in such cases the rights cannot
be suspended.

21. LEGAL EFFECT OF THE
DECLARATION
The Universal Declaration set for the
International community a common standard of achievement. It
recognized the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable
rights of all people in all nations. It is the duty of the States
regardless of their social, political and economic systems to promote
and protect human rights.
The Universal Declaration was not intended to be legally binding
and therefore it did not impose any legal obligations on the States
to give effect to its provisions. In other words from the legal point of
view, the declaration was only recommendation and not strictly
binding on the states.
The declarations addresses right to all people and all nations
whether they are members of the United Nations or not.
The main object of the Declaration was to present the ideas of
human rights and freedoms in order to inspire everybody to work
for their progressive realization. The message conveyed is one of
hope, equality, liberation and empowerment.

22. INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN
LAW
International humanitarian law is a branch of International Law
which provides protection to human beings from the consequences of armed
conflicts.
Humanitarian Law deals with those matters which have an impact of
armed conflicts on the life ,personal integrity and liberty of human beings.
Thus humanitarian law may be referred to that body of law which defines
those principles and rules which limit the use of violence in times of war.
These rules are inspired by principles of humanity and they are meant to
avoid human sufferings and brutality in armed conflicts. However, those
rules of war which are based on humanitarian considerations or
motivations are called humanitarian law.
International Humanitarian Law has much in common with the law of
human rights since both is concerned with the protection of the individuals
nevertheless there are important differences between the two. First
difference is that International humanitarian law is applied during the
time of armed conflicts whereas the law of human rights is applied in peace
time..

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The second difference is that the state which becomes a
party to a human rights treaty assumes an obligation to treat
all person within the jurisdiction in accordance with the
provisions of the treaty .Humanitarian Law is primarily made
up of treaties, agreements between states intended to have
binding legal effect between the parties that have agreed to
them and are binding only between States which are parties to
those treaties.
International humanitarian law applies to all armed conflicts,
i.e. international armed conflicts as well as non-international
armed conflicts. International conflicts may mean an armed
clash between two or more states whereas non-international
armed conflicts which take place in the territory of a state
between its armed forces. e.g.. civil war are included in non-
international armed conflicts.

24. CONCLUSION
Presently there is a widespread
acceptance of the importance of human rights in
the international structure. However, one will
not hesitate to admit that there is a confusion
prevailing as to its precise nature and scope and
the mode of International Law as to the
protection of these rights. One valuable lesson
that the history of human rights teaches us is
that they are not static but are developed in
response to new modes of political thought and
changes in the international environment.