INTRODUCTION
• Human rights are the basic rights and freedoms that belong to every person in the
world, from birth until death.
• They apply regardless of where you are from, what you believe or how you choose
to live your life, regardless of age, ethnic origin, location, language, religion or any
other status.
• These basic rights are based on shared values like dignity, fairness, equality,
respect, and independence. These values are defined and protected by law.
• They can never be taken away, although they can sometimes be restricted – for
example if a person breaks the law, or in the interests of national security.
• Human Rights movement was motivated by the experiences of
the preceding world wars and the events of the Holocaust.
• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by
the United Nations General Assembly on 10th December 1948 in
Paris. 10th December is now known as Human Rights Day.
FIVE CATEGORIES OF HUMAN RIGHTS
• Civil – the right to be treated as an equal to anyone else in society
• Political – the right to vote, to freedom of speech and to obtain information
• Economic – the right to participate in an economy that benefits all; and to
desirable work
• Social – the right to education, health care, food, clothing, shelter, and social
security
• Cultural – the right to freedom of religion, and to speak the language, and to
practice the culture of one’s choice
CIVIL RIGHTS
• Civil rights are an essential component of democracy that provides a person
of equal social opportunities and protection under the law, regardless of
race, religion, or other characteristics.
• Examples of civil rights include the right to vote, the right to a fair trial, the
right to government services, the right to a public education, and the right to
use public facilities
• Civil rights politics in India, has its roots in the movement to end discrimination
against The Dalits—formerly known as "untouchables" and now officially
designated Scheduled Castes—constitute some one-sixth of the Indian
population.
• However, for centuries they were forced to live as second-class citizens, and
many were not even considered to be a part of India’s varna system of
social hierarchy.
• Dalit activism, including the efforts of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, led to great
victories, including the election of Kocheril Raman Narayanan to the presidency.
KOCHERIL RAMAN NARAYANAN DR. B R AMBEDKAR
PRESIDENT (1997 – 2002)
POLITICAL RIGHTS
• Political rights give the citizens the right to equality before law and the right to
participate in the political process.
• They include rights as the right to vote and elect representatives, the right to
contest elections, the right to form political parties or join them.
• Shabnam "Mausi" - the first transgender person in India to be elected to public office as MLA.
She became an elected member of the Madhya Pradesh State Legislative Assembly from 1998
to 2003.
• Being a member of the Legislative Assembly, her plan included fighting corruption, poverty,
unemployment, hunger and speaking out against discrimination for transgender persons, hijras,
eunuchs, cross-dressers and raising awareness about HIV/AIDS.
SHABNAM MAUSI
(MLA 1998 – 2003 IN MADHYA
PRADESH)
• She has inspired many transgender people of the country to take up politics
and participate in 'mainstream activities', giving up their traditional roles as
dancers, beggars, prostitutes, living on the fringes of society.
• For example, they often attend weddings or the house of a new-born baby,
offering services to ward off bad luck.
• In 2003, transgender people in Madhya Pradesh established their own political
party called "Jeeti Jitayi Politics" (JJP), which means 'politics that has already
been won’.
• In 2005, a fiction feature film titled Shabnam Mausi was made about her life.
Although Shabnam Mausi is no longer part of public office, but she ensures to
actively participate in AIDS/HIV with NGOs and gender activists in India.
ECONOMIC RIGHTS
• Economic rights are those rights that guarantee people’s economic security.
These enable all citizens to successfully exercise their civil and political rights.
Basic needs for everyone include things like food, clothing, housing, healthcare,
and so on.
• No one can really exercise their civil and political rights without these rights.
Therefore, everyone must have the right to social security in the case of illness,
physical disability, or old age in addition to the right to work, to receive a fair
wage, safe working conditions and to form and join trade unions.
The Government launches various schemes from time to time to ensure that the
citizens are not deprived of their right to work and to have adequate means of
livelihood. Some of the schemes by the Government are:
• Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA)
• Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojana (SGRY)
• National Rural Livelihoods Mission (Ajeevika)
• Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP)
Other schemes include Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), Jawahar Rojgar
Yojana, Employment Assurance Scheme, etc.
SOCIAL RIGHTS
• Social rights are the right to education, social security, protection of the
family, an adequate standard of living (including freedom from hunger,
access to clean water, adequate housing, and protection of property), and
mental and physical health.
• The RIGHT TO EDUCATION act in India came
about almost sixty-three years after
independence.
• The Act guarantees to provide every Indian
child in the age group of 6-14 a most basic
and fundamental right to education.
• Some of the problems or challenges faced by the govt are lack of funds,
infrastructure challenges and shortage of qualified teachers.
• The problems that are mentioned are only a few and there are more issues
that come up when it comes to actual practice and implementation.
• The Act must now focus on better funding and improving the quality of
education at a deeper level.
• A higher literacy rate is essential for a developing nation.
CULTURAL RIGHTS
• Cultural Rights are the right to freedom of religion, to speak the language,
and to practice the culture of one’s choice.
• Cultural rights include a group's ability to preserve its way of life.
• The Holocaust was the genocide of European Jews during World War II, between
1941 and 1945.
• Jews in Europe have been discriminated against and persecuted for hundreds of
years, often for religious reasons.
• With the rise of racially inspired ideologies in the nineteenth century, the idea
arose that Jews belonged to a different race and were therefore not part of the
people or the nation.
On 20th January 1942, Nazi officials discussed the execution of the planned murder of
eleven million Jews living in Europe. Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically
murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; around two-thirds of
Europe's Jewish population.
• The murders were carried out in mass shootings; by a policy of extermination through
labour in concentration camps, in gas chambers and gas vans in German extermination
camps.
• Jews in Germany were not allowed to practice their religion and culture and were
always seen as an outsider and had to face discrimination.
• Adolf Hitler almost became successful in his intention to have a Jewish free Germany
had he not the lost World War 2.
• The crimes committed by the Nazi’s not only highlight the violation of Cultural Rights
but also the violations of Civil, Political, Economic and Social Rights.
HOW CAN WE RAISE AWARENESS ABOUT
HUMAN RIGHTS?
In order to make sure that Human Rights are made a reality in people’s lives, those with rights need to
know what they are and how to claim them.
Those who are responsible for protecting and respecting people’s rights need to know what their
responsibilities are and uphold them. These include:
• PROTEST AGAINST INEQUALITY
• TAKE ACTION WHEN YOU SEE DISCRIMINATION
• PROTECT MINORITIES AND PROMOTE TOLERANCE
• PROTECT HUMAN RIGHT DEFENDERS AND JOURNALISTS
• SUPPORT ECONOMIC RIGHTS
• Economic rights are the root of many other human rights. If someone lives in
poverty, they are vulnerable to a host of other inequalities like lack of access to
healthcare, education, housing, and more.
• A lack of economic rights also fuels violence and human trafficking. If you want to
promote human rights, you can’t forget about poverty.
• Advocate for things like equal pay for equal work, education access, free childcare,
clean water, sanitation, and more.
THANK YOU