Human rights act I
1. What are human rights?
Rights: discussion rooted in philosophy
- Rights are entitlements to perform (or not) certain actions,
- Or to choose to be (or not) in certain states;
- Or entitlements that others perform (ornot) certain actions or be (or not) in certain states.
What are examples of rights:
- A rights to life, a right to choose; a right to vote, to work, to strike;
- To dissolve parliament, to pronounce the couple husband and wife;
- To feel proud of what one has done, to go to hell in ones own way.
Negative and positive rights
- The holder of a negative right is entitled to non- interference, while the holder of a positive right
is entitled to provision of some good or service. We can also say the state should not interfere in
negative rights; the state should provide positive rights.
- - right not to be tortured is a negative right
- - a right to welfare assistance, to council housing, is a positive right.
The universal declaration of human rights
- “as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every
individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by
teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive
measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and
observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of
territories under their jurisdiction.”
What are human rights?
- Human rights hold a special significance-
- “if all mankind minus one were of one of one opinion, mankind would be no more justified in
silencing that one person that he, if he had the power, would be in silencing mankind” (mill
1859, 20)
- If an individual has a right it trumps collective goal that are not rights (for instancemaximising the
national wealth) – Ronald Dworkin.
Universal or cultural
- A big debate in drafting the UDHR, still ongoing today
- UDHR and 6 UN human rights conventions are universal.
- UN convention on the rights of the child, international covenant on civil and political rights, IC on
social economic and cultural rights, IC on all forms of discrimination against women, convention
against torture.
- But none of these internally enforceable in the UK
The European convention on human rights
Council of Europe
- A result of world war II
- United nations to draft the universal declaration of human rights 1950
- Council of Europe established to protect human rights within Europe.
- The first thing the council did was write the European convention on human rights and
fundamental freedoms (ECHR), adopted in 1950.
- Came into force on September 3rd 1953
- - originally two institutions formed
- - European Commission of Human Rights - One lawyer from each state, offered opinions on HR
matters in states. Would reference decisions to foreign ministers of each state, 2/3 of which could
forward a case to…
- European Court of Human Rights.
1. What are human rights?
Rights: discussion rooted in philosophy
- Rights are entitlements to perform (or not) certain actions,
- Or to choose to be (or not) in certain states;
- Or entitlements that others perform (ornot) certain actions or be (or not) in certain states.
What are examples of rights:
- A rights to life, a right to choose; a right to vote, to work, to strike;
- To dissolve parliament, to pronounce the couple husband and wife;
- To feel proud of what one has done, to go to hell in ones own way.
Negative and positive rights
- The holder of a negative right is entitled to non- interference, while the holder of a positive right
is entitled to provision of some good or service. We can also say the state should not interfere in
negative rights; the state should provide positive rights.
- - right not to be tortured is a negative right
- - a right to welfare assistance, to council housing, is a positive right.
The universal declaration of human rights
- “as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every
individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by
teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive
measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and
observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of
territories under their jurisdiction.”
What are human rights?
- Human rights hold a special significance-
- “if all mankind minus one were of one of one opinion, mankind would be no more justified in
silencing that one person that he, if he had the power, would be in silencing mankind” (mill
1859, 20)
- If an individual has a right it trumps collective goal that are not rights (for instancemaximising the
national wealth) – Ronald Dworkin.
Universal or cultural
- A big debate in drafting the UDHR, still ongoing today
- UDHR and 6 UN human rights conventions are universal.
- UN convention on the rights of the child, international covenant on civil and political rights, IC on
social economic and cultural rights, IC on all forms of discrimination against women, convention
against torture.
- But none of these internally enforceable in the UK
The European convention on human rights
Council of Europe
- A result of world war II
- United nations to draft the universal declaration of human rights 1950
- Council of Europe established to protect human rights within Europe.
- The first thing the council did was write the European convention on human rights and
fundamental freedoms (ECHR), adopted in 1950.
- Came into force on September 3rd 1953
- - originally two institutions formed
- - European Commission of Human Rights - One lawyer from each state, offered opinions on HR
matters in states. Would reference decisions to foreign ministers of each state, 2/3 of which could
forward a case to…
- European Court of Human Rights.
