A legal right is one that is enforceable by law. Any citizen and can discover these rights. They can validly be argued in court and generally take preference to other rights.
Moral rights are those that particular groups believe are right and just. They are generally derived from religion and reflect the values and attitudes of the group that holds them. Usually the moral rights held by the majority of the population are closely reflected in their legal rights. Moral rights vary depending on the group, for example, some groups believe men should have the right to take multiple wives. If there were a minority group who held such a belief in Australia, it would be illegal to practice that moral right because it is not a legal right.
Customary rights are borne out of age and habit. They are customs established long ago that have been practiced for a long time and are therefore established as 'the norm'. In some cases customary rights are enforceable by law - but not by definition. An example of a customary right is on a footpath, it is the custom to walk on the left hand side so that is an unwritten but unenforceable customary law.
b) Various Types of Individual and Collective Human Rights.
Civil and political rights concern political comment and public opinion. The point of these rights is to stop oppression and allow freedom of expression. Civil and political rights detail things like anonymity, freedom of expression and peaceful protest. They protect the citizen's rights to speak out against her country and in some cases are back up by legal rights.
Social and cultural rights concern groups' right to practice cultural traditions and services. This ranges from the simple right to be in a group to the right to practice rituals or be officially recognised by the state.
A collective human right is of self-determination. This is the right to make decisions about one's economic, social and cultural development. The International Court of Justice defines it as "The need to pay regard to the freely expressed will of peoples." It is a more politically correct way of stating the right to a democracy. This right concerns (but is not limited to); people's right to vote in state elections, decide their occupation, their language and their religion. It is not the same as social/cultural rights in that it is primarily concerned with voting for and choosing one's future.
2. Outline the major international declarations/agreements conceived with the aim of protecting human rights.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a list of thirty articles concerning civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights, adopted and proclaimed in 1948 to be displayed and made available in every country of the world. It mentions freedoms of; speech, property, political persuasion, religion, occupation, movement and government. It disallows; slavery, the loss of personal liberties, arbitrary detainment, violence, forced marriage and arbitrary interference. This declaration is widely respected and has set a standard that is yet to be reached. Unfortunately it is still soft law i.e. "not directly enforceable in courts and tribunals but that nonetheless ha[s] an impact on international relations and, ultimately, international law." The covenants below were established because it is soft law.
In 1976 the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was entered into force. The articles are of a very similar nature and idea to those of the Universal Declaration but the Covenant is designed to be capable of legal enforcement and therefore requires more credibility and realism. Because of this extra difficulty it took two years to draft. There was added difficulty in its production because of the precise and in-depth nature of the Universale Declaration. As a Danish delegate argued "[i]t would clearly be undesirable merely to transpose the...
...HumanRights – Child Recruitment
Across the world tens of thousands of boys and girls are denied their basic humanrights, these children are abducted from their homes, schools or on the streets. Child recruitment is defined by the Paris Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups as ” the use of any children under the age of 18 who has been recruited by a state or non-state armed group to be used to participate in combat or in other circumstances used as spies, messengers, servants, human shields, suicide bombings or to lay landmines”. Many of the girls that have been abducted for recruitment are subjected to sexual assault and they are all at risk of death. Child recruitment takes place in over 18 different countries and it has become a global issue with many countries beginning to take widespread action. When evaluating the effectiveness of legal and non legal measures in addressing child recruitment both domestically and internationally it becomes clear that international recognition and enforceability is limited whilst in Australia there are many mechanisms to ensure the problem is contained.
Internationally Child Recruitment remains a large problem. Whilst it is recognised as a problem a lack of enforceability means that organisations such as UNICEF ( The United Nations Children Fund) have little or no power in countries...
...Are humanrights innate and universal?
Post WWII on the 10 December 1948, the Universal Declaration of HumanRights (UDHR) was espoused by the General Assembly of the United Nations in order to agree on the notion that such atrocities that occurred throughout the Great War and the Second World War would not ever be reciprocated. The document that was drawn up in less than two years by the UN and Western states, and although ambitious it would guarantee a premise for life and living for every individual all over the world. The UDHR are founded on nobility, equality and reverence, and are said to be aimed at all cultures and religions within the West and East of the globe. However there is great discrepancy regarding the justification and practicality of humanrights all over the world due to political, economic and cultural differences and limitations. Universal means that ‘something’ affects, applies or is completed by everyone all over the world – there is no distinctive bias shown and equal policies are applied. Innate, in relation to humanrights, means that people are given natural rights purely based on the fact that he/she is human and alive. Therefore, are humanrights universal and innate or is the Universal Declaration of...
WOMEN’S RIGHTS: A RE-VISION OF HUMANRIGHTS
Shailendra Pal Singh
Third Year Learner (2010-2015)
Second Year Learner (2011-2016)
Symbiosis Law School, Noida
Symbiosis Law School, Noida
Ph. +91 7503636717
Ph. +91 8527556944
Postal Address: Symbiosis Laws School Noida
Postal Address: Symbiosis Laws School Noida
Plot No. 47/48, Block A, Noida (U.P.) 201301
Plot No. 47/48, Block A, Noida (U.P.) 201301
Email: shail[email protected]
Email: [email protected]
Woman, the very creation of God that makes living beautiful is often at the receiving end of trauma. In 2009 rape cases have reached 2,497, domestic violence has crossed the 10,000 mark. Around 2.8 million social workers have been employed by the government to reach into villages across the country, to make women aware of their rights. But, much to the surprise women are not even aware that they have any rights in a man’s world. Significant numbers of the world's population are routinely subject to torture, starvation, terrorism, humiliation, and even murder simply because they are female. It is generally known that women are disproportionally affected by the social and economic factors such as poverty, gender biased, unemployment, inequality, oppressive social structure and son preference. Violence against women cuts across race, religion,...
...exterminated by Hitler’s Nazi regime, the Universal Declaration of HumanRights was adopted and proclaimed on December 10th 1948 to prevent a another holocaust and to achieve a universal standard of humanrights. Over the last sixty years various regional and international treaties and conventions have been adopted to protect and advance humanrights towards universality. Furthermore, it equally important to mention that there has been a western dominated movement to universalise humanrights. Nevertheless, Universal Human remains a contentious issue of debate among intellectual and policy circles. The purpose of this essay is to outline a few of the prominent issues and problems that are associated with the concept of Universal humanrights.
“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights” (UDHR. 1948. P.2) Humanrights in its contemporary perception is a fairly recent concept. In fact the Universal Declaration of HumanRights which is often cited as the corner stone of humanrights only came into force following World War II and the most “systematic and blatant” violation of humanrights in record history that was the Holocaust...
What are HumanRights
What are humanrights?
Humanrights are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status. We are all equally entitled to our humanrights without discrimination. T hese rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible. Universal humanrights are often expressed and guaranteed by law, in the forms of treaties, customary international law, general principles and other sources of international law. International humanrights law lays down obligations of Governments to act in certain ways or to refrain from certain acts, in order to promote and protecthumanrights and fundamental freedoms of individuals or groups.
Universal and inalienable
T he principle of universality of humanrights is the cornerstone of international humanrights law. T his principle, as first emphasized in the Universal Declaration on HumanRights in 1948, has been reiterated in numerous international humanrights conventions, declarations, and...
We will deal with each of these in turn, with reference to international legal instruments and bodies. We will observe first of all how the rights of individuals, although falling outside the province of international law as it was conceived in the1600s, began to seep into the framework of international legal rules over the centuries, eventually coming to prominence during the 'humanrights era' that followed the end of the Second World War. We will consider secondly the various mechanisms that have been put in place by the international community in order to deal with the enforcement and observance of individual rights enshrined in international legal instruments. Lastly, we will critically assess the claim that questions about individual rights should be the sole concern of domestic legal systems.
The scholars who laid the intellectual foundations of international law in the Western world, like Hugo Grotius (1625) and John Locke (1690), all stressed in their writings that legal systems, be they domestic or international, were founded in natural law and commonly accepted standards of (Christian) morality. It may seem surprising, therefore, that for centuries the rights of individuals played no significant role in the framework of international law. International...
...The Creation of the
Universal Declaration of HumanRights
Though humanrights as a whole (or for most of history, the idea of humanrights) have been present since the beginnings of civilization, its prevalence as a “normal” and “obvious” component of international relations did not emerge until much recently, with the ratification of the Universal Declaration of HumanRights (UDHR) in 1948. The Universal Declaration of HumanRights was created by the United Nations in order for all people in all nations to recognize each individual’s humanity, and the equal rights that are given to them on the basis of that humanity. As the UDHR’s preamble articulates, the Document aims for the “recognition of inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family”, grounded by the “foundation of freedom, justice, and peace”. 1 In other words, no human is excluded from possession of humanrights; regardless of age, sex, gender, ethnicity, religion, or class, so long as one is a member of the human race, they are inherently entitled to the rights listed in the UDHR.
Today, the UDHR, legitimized by the United Nations in 1948, is widely regarded as one of the most important documents of the twentieth...
...International laws are there to protect the people, but still many countries get away with ignoring people’s rights and to the eye it looks like they suffer no consequences. International laws put into place by treaty, also legally binding, were in order to address injustices to the people. (The Foundation. N.D.) Protecting humanrights throughout the world is a humane effort. Many governments oppress its people, murder, and leave their people starving while those in power live a better life. Protecting the basic humanrights of the individuals is an international moral duty. Everyone should see it as such and step in when they are needed and protect the people, as well the same should be done for them.
Humanrights laws were first brought out in 1948, after the Second World War. It was meant to keep things that had happened then from happening again. The Holocaust was the persecutions and murder of approximately six million Jewish people. (Holocaust Memorial N.D.) POW (prisoner of war) camps where German soldiers were captured by the Russians and murdered over years, Even Japanese war camps captured soldiers and they were tortured. Battles or even ransacking of cities took place over the War, and people were raped, murdered, and tortured. The things that were done to the people were so outrageous and unthinkable; they...