Human rights

Human rights

Subject: Polity

Context:  Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana on Sunday said police stations pose the “highest threat” to human rights and dignity, which are “sacrosanct.

Concept:

About Human rights

• Human Rights are those rights which every human being enjoys on the basis of equality irrespective of caste, race, religion, and place of birth, sex or any other economic and social status. The idea of human dignity and equality is embedded in vision of HRs.
• These Human rights are guaranteed under the constitution of India in the form of Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy and International Instruments such as UDHR, ICCPR, ICESCR,  UNCRPD etc.
• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights laid down the terms for the post-war world, it enshrined the rights and the freedoms of all people, living everywhere.

Characteristic of HRs:

• Inalienable
• Indivisible, interdependent and interrelated
• Universal

Three generation of Human Rights:

The division of human rights into three generations was introduced in 1979 by Czech jurist Karel Vasak.

• First generation: It dealt with the civil-political rights like liberty and participation in political life. By nature, they are individualistic and negative (limitation on the state). These have been legitimated and given status in international law by Articles 3 to 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
• Second Generation: These deal with the socio-economic rights that guarantee equal conditions and treatment. They are not rights directly possessed by individuals but constitute positive duties upon the government to respect and fulfil them. Major acknowledgement of these rights came post Second World War and is found in Articles 22 to 27 of the UDHR and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.
• Third generation: Collective-developmental rights or solidarity rights of peoples and groups held against their respective states aligns with the final tenet of “fraternity”. Broad class of rights that have gained acknowledgment in international agreements and treaties but are more contested than earlier two. They can be found in documents like 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, and the 1994 Draft Declaration of Indigenous Peoples’ Rights.