Human rights in developing countries
,1: DEFENITION, CHARACTERISTICS, KINDS, HISTORY OF AND CRITICISM ON
HUMAN RIGHTS
- What are human rights and what are their characteristics?
- What are the foundations for and the factors that have stimulated the rise of human
rights?
- When and how have human rights entered the national and international legal arena
and how have they evolved?
- What kinds of human rights do we have?
- What is the criticism on human rights?
Human rights are in present day society the only universally accepted normative legal
discourse in the world. The danger of them being violated rely on every person on earth.
Defenition:
“Human rights 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 human rights without discrimination.” (OHCHR)
Characteristics
inherent
absolute
points of
discussion
characteristics
equality
universal
Human rights are inherent to any human being. That means it is an international human
rights document that give you those rights, which is considered a confirmation of rights you
already had before, not that you have them once they were written down. That also means
that, since it is inherent to all human beings, you cannot skip them. Inalienable. There are
many rights that can be restricted, except absolute rights. Government states can even
suspend your human rights, although that should be a temporary measure.
Human rights are universal. Anyone, everywhere in the world should be able to have them.
There are also extra rights, for example to vulnerable groups, such as children. Specifically
tailored to each of those groups.
There is discussion whether they are universal, or if they can be traced back to different
societies worldwide, or if it really is something invented by the west side of the world.
They should also be equal to all human rights, no one can get more rights
, emphasize dignity,
holy character of life,
Religious basis equality, freedom
Golden rule: never do something to somebody else that you wouldn’t want to be done to
you. → equality.
Some religious rules are basic to human rights to a certain extent, such as the right to life or
the right to dignity.
- Do naught to others which, if done to thee, would cause thee pain: this is the sum of
duty (Hinduism)
- What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. That is the entire law; all the rest
is commentary. (Judaism)
- Do unto others as you would have them do unto you (Christianity)
- As you would have people do to you, do to them; and what you dislike to be done to
you, don’t do to them (Islam)
- Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful (Buddhism)
dignity, justice, social
justice, protection
against rulers
Philosophical basis
Thinkers all over the world started to talk about basic rights of members of society. Although
western philosophy itself has been truly important.
NON-WESTERN
- Hsün Tzu (ca. 310-220 BC):
• to take away fear and strife we need an orderly society
• based on recognition of individual rights
NATURAL LAW
Natural law is a theory in ethics and philosophy that says that human beings possess intrinsic
values that govern our reasoning and behavior. Natural law maintains that these rules of
right and wrong are inherent in people and are not created by society or court judges.
, Greeks:
- universal law of nature or god → rules to act as good people
- This idea has been taken up by the stoics. (Stoïcism) → Ciceró, Marc Aureli …
- That doesn’t mean they believed in equality of all people, there was slavery
- They didn’t believe in treating them equally but in treating them “well”.
- This developed until the times of the Enlightenment (la Il·lustració) → 17-18 century
Grotius (1583-1645):
- universal law of nature > everyone
- + natural rights → right to just and equal treatment
- state → protect rights during war
▪ (war if higher norms complied with)
Locke (1632-1704):
- universal law of nature > everyone
- in natural state = natural freedom
- + natural rights → obligation
- government + contract
- incompliance → destitution!
He is considered the (“moral”) inventor of human rights
He said: In the natural states people live in natural freedom. This superb universal law of
nature awards people natural rights (3):
- Life
- Property
- Freedom, liberty
And people have the obligation not to hurt other’s rights.
Also, that in society where people tend to be in conflict, it is needed to create a
government, which goes through some kind of contract, that has to protect those three
natural rights. If the government does not protect those rights, then we do not need one. In
that sense, Locke is important because he speaks about natural rights in the closest way to
human rights, although he never used that term.
This also implies that a society should be based on the obligation of states to protect the
natural rights of their citizens. He is at the basis of the idea of parliamentary democracy or
constitutional democracy (with rights included).
Paine (1737-1809): (follower of Locke)
→ supported the American declaration of independence
- In Common Sense (1776):
→ “A government of our own is our natural right …”
→ only task government → protecting persons and their rights:
- Rights of Man (1791):
→ His book was the first one to ever talk about human rights, so he is the ACTUAL
INVENTOR OF HUMAN RIGHTS.
,1: DEFENITION, CHARACTERISTICS, KINDS, HISTORY OF AND CRITICISM ON
HUMAN RIGHTS
- What are human rights and what are their characteristics?
- What are the foundations for and the factors that have stimulated the rise of human
rights?
- When and how have human rights entered the national and international legal arena
and how have they evolved?
- What kinds of human rights do we have?
- What is the criticism on human rights?
Human rights are in present day society the only universally accepted normative legal
discourse in the world. The danger of them being violated rely on every person on earth.
Defenition:
“Human rights 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 human rights without discrimination.” (OHCHR)
Characteristics
inherent
absolute
points of
discussion
characteristics
equality
universal
Human rights are inherent to any human being. That means it is an international human
rights document that give you those rights, which is considered a confirmation of rights you
already had before, not that you have them once they were written down. That also means
that, since it is inherent to all human beings, you cannot skip them. Inalienable. There are
many rights that can be restricted, except absolute rights. Government states can even
suspend your human rights, although that should be a temporary measure.
Human rights are universal. Anyone, everywhere in the world should be able to have them.
There are also extra rights, for example to vulnerable groups, such as children. Specifically
tailored to each of those groups.
There is discussion whether they are universal, or if they can be traced back to different
societies worldwide, or if it really is something invented by the west side of the world.
They should also be equal to all human rights, no one can get more rights
, emphasize dignity,
holy character of life,
Religious basis equality, freedom
Golden rule: never do something to somebody else that you wouldn’t want to be done to
you. → equality.
Some religious rules are basic to human rights to a certain extent, such as the right to life or
the right to dignity.
- Do naught to others which, if done to thee, would cause thee pain: this is the sum of
duty (Hinduism)
- What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. That is the entire law; all the rest
is commentary. (Judaism)
- Do unto others as you would have them do unto you (Christianity)
- As you would have people do to you, do to them; and what you dislike to be done to
you, don’t do to them (Islam)
- Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful (Buddhism)
dignity, justice, social
justice, protection
against rulers
Philosophical basis
Thinkers all over the world started to talk about basic rights of members of society. Although
western philosophy itself has been truly important.
NON-WESTERN
- Hsün Tzu (ca. 310-220 BC):
• to take away fear and strife we need an orderly society
• based on recognition of individual rights
NATURAL LAW
Natural law is a theory in ethics and philosophy that says that human beings possess intrinsic
values that govern our reasoning and behavior. Natural law maintains that these rules of
right and wrong are inherent in people and are not created by society or court judges.
, Greeks:
- universal law of nature or god → rules to act as good people
- This idea has been taken up by the stoics. (Stoïcism) → Ciceró, Marc Aureli …
- That doesn’t mean they believed in equality of all people, there was slavery
- They didn’t believe in treating them equally but in treating them “well”.
- This developed until the times of the Enlightenment (la Il·lustració) → 17-18 century
Grotius (1583-1645):
- universal law of nature > everyone
- + natural rights → right to just and equal treatment
- state → protect rights during war
▪ (war if higher norms complied with)
Locke (1632-1704):
- universal law of nature > everyone
- in natural state = natural freedom
- + natural rights → obligation
- government + contract
- incompliance → destitution!
He is considered the (“moral”) inventor of human rights
He said: In the natural states people live in natural freedom. This superb universal law of
nature awards people natural rights (3):
- Life
- Property
- Freedom, liberty
And people have the obligation not to hurt other’s rights.
Also, that in society where people tend to be in conflict, it is needed to create a
government, which goes through some kind of contract, that has to protect those three
natural rights. If the government does not protect those rights, then we do not need one. In
that sense, Locke is important because he speaks about natural rights in the closest way to
human rights, although he never used that term.
This also implies that a society should be based on the obligation of states to protect the
natural rights of their citizens. He is at the basis of the idea of parliamentary democracy or
constitutional democracy (with rights included).
Paine (1737-1809): (follower of Locke)
→ supported the American declaration of independence
- In Common Sense (1776):
→ “A government of our own is our natural right …”
→ only task government → protecting persons and their rights:
- Rights of Man (1791):
→ His book was the first one to ever talk about human rights, so he is the ACTUAL
INVENTOR OF HUMAN RIGHTS.
