Third Generation Human Rights

Historical Background
• First Generation Human Rights
– Historical evolution of human rights law a Western
phenomenon  emerge from Western, liberal, democratic
experience
– Importance of political theorists like John Locke, Jean Jacque
Rousseau, and James Stuart
– “Natural Rights” thinkers belief that rights that antedate
establishment of government.
– Emphasis on what the government cannot or should not do
• Government formed by contract to protect “life, liberty and property”.
• In the West civil and political rights become paramount - the rights of
free speech, free press, freedom of assembly, freedom of association,
and religious freedom.
 Historical Background
• Second Generation Human Rights
– Few non-Western countries have an individualist
tradition
– Study of freedom must begin with freedom from
hunger, freedom from disease, freedom from
unemployment, freedom from the lack of housing and
access to health care.
– Second generation rights influential in the Third World
– The influence of second-generation rights found in
recent human rights documents
 Historical Background
• In 1979, Karel Vasak presented a brief but systematic
theory of what he called "the third generation of
human rights.“
• Vasak argued that several new human rights, such as
the rights to development, to a healthy environment,
and to peace, were already beginning to emerge in
international law
• He suggested that these three generations of human
rights corresponded respectively to the three ideals
proclaimed in the French revolution: liberty, equality
and fraternity. Accordingly, these new human rights
should be thought of as solidarity rights.
 Basic Principle
• Third-generation or ‘solidarity’ rights are the
most recently recognised category of human
rights, in response to realization that mankind
lives on a very small and fragile planet.
• The idea at the basis of the third generation of
rights is that of solidarity; and the rights
embrace collective rights of society or
peoples
 Basic Principle
• the right to peace  the right to live in peaceful
world, free from the threat of nuclear war
• the right to a healthy environment  The right to
live in a balanced eco-system free from
environmental contaminants that are destroying
the planet
• the right to development  The right of all
people to have a basic standard of living so that
the gap between rich and poor is not too great
• No universal agreement on third generation
rights
 Rıght to development
• For the millions of people around the world
who live in abject poverty, the United Nations
Declaration on the Right to Development
offers hope.
• Indeed, the aspiration to make the right to
development a reality for all is the foundation
for the quest to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), the
internationally agreed global development
goals.
 Rıght to development
• The eight MDGs – to reduce poverty, hunger and
disease and promote gender equality, education,
environmental sustainability and global
partnerships – are interrelated and to achieve
them requires a partnership between developed
and developing countries.
• This is articulated in Goal number 8 which asserts
the collective responsibility for international
cooperation and assistance to achieve all the
MDGs.
 Rıght to development
• The right to development can strengthen this
global partnership to help achieve the MDGs.
It requires the international community to
create an enabling global environment free of
structural impediments where developing
countries have opportunities for international
economic activities.
 Rıght to development
• The right to development incorporates the
principle of international cooperation along
with the principles of transparency, equality,
participation, accountability and non-
discrimination. These principles should be
followed at both the national and
international levels.
 Rıght to peace
• Declaration on the Right of Peoples to Peace was
approved by General Assembly resolution 39/11 of 12
November 1984
– Reaffirming that the principal aim of the United Nations is the
maintenance of international peace and security,
– Bearing in mind the fundamental principles of international law
set forth in the Charter of the United Nations,
– Expressing the will and the aspirations of all peoples to
eradicate war from the life of mankind and, above all, to avert
a world-wide nuclear catastrophe,
– Convinced that life without war serves as the primary
international prerequisite for the material well-being,
development and progress of countries, and for the full
implementation of the rights and fundamental human
freedoms proclaimed by the United Nations,
 Rıght to peace
• Aware that in the nuclear age the establishment of a lasting peace on Earth
represents the primary condition for the preservation of human civilization
and the survival of mankind,
• Recognizing that the maintenance of a peaceful life for peoples is the
sacred duty of each State,
– 1. Solemnly proclaims that the peoples of our planet have a sacred right to
peace;
– 2. Solemnly declares that the preservation of the right of peoples to peace and
the promotion of its implementation constitute a fundamental obligation of
each State;
– 3. Emphasizes that ensuring the exercise of the right of peoples to peace
demands that the policies of States be directed towards the elimination of the
threat of war, particularly nuclear war, the renunciation of the use of force in
international relations and the settlement of international disputes by peaceful
means on the basis of the Charter of the United Nations;
– 4. Appeals to all States and international organizations to do their utmost to
assist in implementing the right of peoples to peace through the adoption of
appropriate measures at both the national and the international level.
 Right to a healthy environment
• The right to a healthy enviornment was
recognised in Stockholm Conference in 1972 in
an international environmental law document.
• The conference adopted what is known as the
Stockholm Declaration, consisting of three non-
binding instruments:
– a resolution on institutional and financial
arrangements;
– a declaration containing 26 principles;
– and an action plan containing 109 recommendations.
 Right to a healthy environment
• In June 1992, the UN Conference on Environment
and Development (UNCED) was held in Rio de Ja-
neiro, Brazil.
• The purpose of the conference was to elaborate
strategies and measures to halt and reverse the
effects of environmental degradation and to
strengthen national and international efforts to
promote sustainable and environmentally sound
development in all countries.
 Right to a healthy environment
• In the international context, the Rio Declaration with its
Plan of Action ("Agenda 21”) contains measures to be taken
for implementation of the Rio principles and the other
major treaties produced in Rio.
• The measures are;
– (1) provision of financial resources and mechanisms;
– (2)transfer of environmentally sound technologies;
– (3) support for capacity-building;
– (4)education and awareness;
– (5)development of enforceable international legal instruments;
– (6)environmental impact assessments; and
– (7)information and tools for measuring progress.
 Right to a healthy environment
• The environment is mentioned directly in the
ICESCR in article 12(2) on the right to health:
“ (a)The steps to be taken by the States Parties
to the present Covenant to achieve the full
realization of this right shall include those
necessary for . . . (b) The improvement of all
aspects of environmental and industrial
hygiene.”