SCOPE OF PRESENTATION

Basic Human Rights

And
Overview of International Human Rights Law

1. Key Principles
2. State Obligations & Responsibilities
3. Duty Bearers and Rights Holders

…In the Service of Human Rights

 LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
At the end of the session, the participants
are able to:

1. Learn the history of human rights

2. Explain the principles of human rights
3. Enumerate and explain the nature and
levels of State Obligations
4. Differentiate the duties and obligations
of duty-bearers and rights holders

…In the Service of Human Rights

 Human Rights:
Everyone’s
Legacy

…In the Service of Human Rights

 What are human
rights?

…In the Service of Human Rights

 What are Human Rights?

…Universal legal guarantees;

...civil, political, economic, social and cultural;
…protect human values (freedom, equality, dignity)
…inherent to individuals and, to some extent, groups;
…reflected in international norms and standards;
…legally binding on States.

…In the Service of Human Rights

 HUMAN RIGHTS in a nutshell
1. Belong to everyone – they can’t be taken away from
marginalised individuals
2. Are about the relationship between the state and
individuals
3. Provide a floor, not a ceiling, of basic standards, below
which the state must not fall and which it must protect or
fulfill
4. KEY PRINCIPLES:
– Fairness
– Respect
– Equality
– Dignity
…In the Service of Human Rights
…In the Service of Human Rights
 “We Must Familiarize Ourselves with
Key Human Rights Concepts”

United Nations Definition:

Those rights, which are inherent in our nature and

without which we cannot live as Human Beings.

…In the Service of Human Rights

 Human Rights
Are the Supreme, Inherent and
Inalienable Rights to LIFE, to DIGNITY
and to SELF-DEVELOPMENT.

(CHR definition)

…In the Service of Human Rights

 Q : What is right to life?
A : The constitutional protection of
the right to life is not just a
protection of the right to be alive
or to security of one’s limb
against any form of physical harm;
it extends the right to a
good life.
…In the Service of Human Rights
 Q : What is the right to liberty?

A : “Liberty is freedom to do right and never

wrong”….ever guided by reason and the upright and
honorable conscience of man.
1. Liberty of Abode and Travel
2. Freedom of Religion
3. Freedom of Expression
4. Right against involuntary servitude and freedom from
slavery
5. Right to suffrage
6. Right to marry and found a family
7. Rights against unreasonable searches and seizures

…In the Service of Human Rights

 Q : What is the right to property?
A: Anything that can make under the right of
ownership and be the subject of contract

1. Personal –
Limitations – possession of which is lawful
– must be within the commerce of man
2. Real
Limitation – State’s power of eminent domain

…In the Service of Human Rights

 CLASSIFICATION OF HUMAN
RIGHTS

…In the Service of Human Rights

 According to Source:
1. natural rights – are God-given rights,
acknowledged by everybody to be morally
good. They are unwritten but they prevail as
norms of the society. Ex. Right to life, dignity
and self development.
2. Constitutional rights – are those which are
conferred and protected by the Constitution.
3. Statutory rights – are those rights which are
provided by law promulgated by the law
making body.
…In the Service of Human Rights
 According to recipient

• Individual rights – those rights being accorded

to individuals
• Collective rights – also called “ to people’s
rights” or “solidarity rights” are right of the
society, those that can be enjoyed only in
company with others. Ex. Right to peaceably
assemble, right to peace, right to
development, right to self-determination, and
right to environment.
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 According to aspect of life
• Civil rights – are those rights which the law will
enforce at the instance of private individuals for the
purpose of securing to them the enjoyment of their
means of happiness. Ex. Right against involuntary
servitude and imprisonment for non-payment of
debt or a poll tax, the constitutional rights of the
accused, ECOSOC rights, right to form association,
freedom of speech and expression. However, they
partake of the nature of political rights when they
are utilized as a means to participate in the
government

…In the Service of Human Rights

 Aspect of life continued:
• Political rights – are those rights
which enable us to participate in
running the affairs of the
government either directly or
indirectly. Ex. Right to vote, right to
information on matters of public
concern, and the right to initiative
and referendum
…In the Service of Human Rights
 Aspects of life continued:

• Economic and social rights – are those which

the law confers upon the people to enable
them to achieve social and economic
development, thereby ensuring them their
well-being, happiness and financial security.
Ex. Right to property, education and
promotion of social justice

…In the Service of Human Rights

 Aspects of life continued:

• Cultural rights – are those rights that ensures

the well-being of the individual and foster the
preservation, enrichment, and dynamic
evolution of national culture based on the
principle of unity in diversity in a climate of
free artistic and intellectual expression.

…In the Service of Human Rights

 According to struggle and recognition

• FIRST GENERATION RIGHTS – covers civil and

political rights which derives primarily from
the 7th and 8th centuries reformist theories. It
conceives of human rights more in the
negative (“freedom from”) than positive rights
(“rights to”) terms; it favors the abstention
rather than the intervention of government in
the exercise of freedoms and in the quest for
human dignity.
…In the Service of Human Rights
 Struggle and recognition
continued:
• Second Generation rights – covers economic,
social and cultural rights which finds their
origin primarily in the socialist tradition and
have been variously promoted by
revolutionary struggles and welfare
movements. It conceives human rights more
in positive terms. Ex. “right to education” They
are fundamental claims to social equality.

…In the Service of Human Rights

 Struggle and recognition
continued:
• Third Generation rights – covers collective
rights. Example is the right to development or
healthy environment.

…In the Service of Human Rights

 According to its derogability

• Non-derogable or absolute rights – those that

cannot be suspended nor taken away nor
restricted/limited even in extreme emergency
or even it the government invokes national
emergency. Ex. Freedom from torture, right
not to be deprive of life arbitrarily, right to be
recognized as person and freedom of thought
or conscience

…In the Service of Human Rights

 According to its derogability
continued
• Derogable rights or relative rights – may be
suspended or restricted or limited depending
on the circumstances which call for the
preservation of social life. Example: right to
freely move may be limited through the
imposition of curfew

…In the Service of Human Rights

 Universal Fundamental

Inherent

Imprescriptible Inalienable

Indivisible Interrelated

…In the Service of Human Rights

 CORE INTERNATIONAL
HUMAN RIGHTS INTRUMENTS

UDHR

ICCPR ICESCR

CRC CEDAW CAT CERD

MWC CRPD ICAED

…In the Service of Human Rights
Traditionally, it is the state which
has the primary responsibility to
respect, protect and fulfill human
rights.

At present, also Non-State Actors

can be held accountable for
human rights violations.
 Human Rights Obligations
Duty-bearer’s obligation to

Respect Protect Fulfill

refrain from prevent others from adopt appropriate

interfering with the measures towards
enjoyment of the
interfering with the full realization of the
right enjoyment of a right right

…In the Service of Human Rights

 State Obligations
(of duty-bearers)
Duty to Respect
 requires the state to abstain from doing anything
that violates the integrity of the individual or
infringes on the individual’s freedom.
 forbids the state to act in any way that directly or
indirectly encroaches upon recognized rights and
freedoms.
 In essence, it is a prohibition against state
interference.
 must ensure that all state bodies do not violate
human rights

…In the Service of Human Rights

 State Obligations
(of duty-bearers)
Duty to Protect
 compels the state to take steps to prohibit others
from violating recognized rights and freedoms.
 binds the state from taking any measures that
would erode the legal and practical status of human
rights, and imposes upon states the duty to act to
preclude further deprivation.
 places sufficient legal and policy emphasis on the full
realization of human rights through a series of active
measures, including the guarantee of access to legal
remedies for any infringement caused by a third party.

…In the Service of Human Rights

 State Obligations
(of duty-bearers)
Duty to Fulfill
 Obligation to Facilitate
 requires the state to actively create conditions aimed at
achieving full realization of human rights.
 requires States to take appropriate legislative,
administrative, budgetary, judicial and other measures
towards the full realization of human rights.
 Obligation to Provide
 When individuals or groups are unable to realize their
rights by the means at their disposal, for reasons beyond
their control, the state has the obligation to provide the
right in question.
…In the Service of Human Rights
 Key Messages:
1. Human rights are the basic rights and freedoms that
belong to every person in the world.
2. The State bears the main obligation to respect, protect
and ensure human rights guarantees under
international law.
3. To confront, remedy and prevent the most serious
human rights violations in terms of civil and political
rights, as well as to uphold, protect and promote the
full scope of human rights and fundamental freedoms ,
respect for human rights must adhere to and be bound
by the principles and standards embodied in
international instruments on human rights.

…In the Service of Human Rights