INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN RIGHTS

Introduction

 Every human being regardless of one’s color, religion, age, sex, nationality, the
geographical place where one lives or whether rich or poor ought to enjoy the same
claims of freedom and lawful guarantees.
 Human rights protect individual human beings or groups of human beings from actions
that might interfere or stop one from enjoying them. These rights are claimed from
society in which human beings live.
 the word ‘human’ means people and not plants, animals or machines. A man, woman
and a child are human.
 Rights are the basic things that a human being needs in life, in order to have dignity,
fair treatment and equality. These basic things include food, shelter, clothing, equality
before the law and freedom to assemble and speak.

Definition:

Human Rights refers to the freedom, justice, and equality that a human being is ethically
and legitimately entitled to, simply because one is a human being.

Entitlements are claims or freedoms.

Historical Development of Human Rights

 All over the history of mankind there has been rules and laws with elements of Human
Rights which were acknowledged. The United Nation (UN) traces the origin of human
rights from the year 539 BCE, when the troops of Cyrus the great conquered Babylon.
Cyrus freed the slaves and declared that all human beings had the right to choose them
on religion and established racial equality. The precepts which are part of the first four
(4) articles of the UN charter of human rights and other provisions were recorded on a
big cylinder called the Cyrus cylinder.
 In religious doctrine, the ‘golden rule’ of ‘Do unto others as you would have them do
unto you,’ which summarizes rights and responsibilities, found in the Christian Bible

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 has similar sayings in the Hindu Vedas, the Islam Quran, the Babylonian Code of
Hammurabi and the Analects of the teachings of Confucius of China.
 In addition, other documents mentioning individual Human Rights include the Magna
Carta of 1215, the English Bill of Rights of 1689, the French Declaration on the Rights
of Man and Citizen of 1789 and the US Constitution and Bill of Rights of 1791. In
Africa the Charter of Mande of 1222 also outlined individual Human Rights which were
guaranteed by Soundiata Keita, the King of the Empire of Mali - also called Mande.
However, these documents were not universal in nature because they often excluded
women, children, slaves, persons of certain social, religious, economic or political
groups. however, generally All the human rights conventions are drawn from the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Characteristics of Human Rights

Characteristics are distinguishing features that set something apart. In the case of Human
Rights, they have distinct qualities that distinguish them from other rights. The following are
the characteristics of Human Rights:

 Human Rights Are Inherent.

 Inherence means that which is an essential part of something and taking it away means
that something is no longer what it is supposed to be. Inherent is that which is natural.
Human Rights and fundamental freedoms are inherent. This means that they exist
independently of the will of an individual or group of persons. Human Rights cannot
be bought, given, entrusted or earned. Therefore, Human Rights can only be violated
or denied but not taken away. Human Rights are inherent because we are all born with
them. They cannot be transferred from person to person. Human Rights are a birth right.
They exist as a natural and permanent part of human beings. One is born with them and
has them till the time one dies. Whether one realizes that they have them or not they
are still there.

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  Human Rights Are Inalienable (Inseparable)

Inalienable right is a right that cannot Inalienable means those things that cannot be
be taken away or given to another taken away or separated or given away.
person.
Similarly, Human Rights cannot be taken away
nor be given away. People have Human Rights even when these are being violated or even if
the laws or those in power do not recognize, promote or protect them. Human Rights cannot
be taken away nor can any person deprive another of the right to have and enjoy them. Human
Rights cannot be forfeited or be diminished by one’s failure to exercise them even though one
can be unaware of his or her rights. Human Rights are a legal (lawful) entitlement for all
members of society.

 Human Rights Are Universal

Human Rights Are Universal because they apply to all people everywhere in the world and are
the same for all people in the world regardless of race, sex, color, ethnicity, religion, political,
geographical, beliefs, nationality or social status.

 Human Rights Are Indivisible, interdependent and interrelated

Human Rights are indivisible because all rights are equally important and they cannot be
divided or subtracted from. There is no hierarchy (high or low rank) in Human Rights. Every
right has equal status. Human Rights should be enjoyed in totality. One cannot deny someone
the right to food, clothes, medical care or shelter then grant the person the right to life and
assume that the person is enjoying all fundamental Human Rights. Therefore, the right to life
is depended and related to the right to food, clothes, medical care and these rights cannot be
divided. In order for one to live to the full, one needs the rights to food, shelter, clothing and
medical care. If one is denied the right to education, it is most likely that the person may never
fulfil their full potential and earn a decent living. This means that rights depend on each other
to be fulfilled in order to enjoy all rights. The denial of a right to nationality also stops one
from freedom of movement as the person may not have a passport to enable one to travel to
outside countries. This is why rights are said to be indivisible, interdependent and interrelated.

Categories of Human Rights

International Human Rights have been categorized into Civil and Political Rights; Economic,

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Social and Cultural Rights and collective rights. At global level, Human Rights are classified
into three categories according to their evolution or development process. The different
categories are referred to as ‘generations’. These generations are not in order of importance;
remember that all rights are indivisible meaning that they relate to the whole range of Human
Rights. The generations are in the order in which they were recognized historically in the
development of Human Rights.

Civil and Political Rights

Civil and Political Rights are also called ‘First Generation’ Rights. They are first generation
rights because they were the first rights to be recognized as rights of the individual. Civil and
political rights stress the freedom of the individual and places obligation on the government
not to interfere in the life of the individual. Civil and Political Rights are also found in the
Constitution of Zambia. They include:

 The Right to Life.

 The right to personal liberty.
 Protection from slavery or forced labor.
 Freedom from torture and inhuman treatment.
 Freedom of opinion.
 Protection of freedom of conscience.
 Protection of freedom of expression.
 Protection of freedom of assembly and association.
 Protection of freedom of movement.
 Protection from discrimination on ground of race, age, sex, ethnicity, religion etc.

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights are called ‘Second Generation’ Rights. This category
consists of rights that are economic, social and cultural in nature. Their realization brings about
social justice, dignity and equity. The government is required to take deliberate action or steps
to bring about conditions in which every person enjoys adequate standards of economic, social
and cultural rights. This category includes the:

 Right to food

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  Right to employment.
 Right to Social Security.
 Right to education
 Right to health. (medical care)
 Right to a clean environment.
 Right to development.
 Right to adequate housing.

Collective Rights

These are also known as ‘Third Generation Rights’. They are the most recently identified
rights. The term collective rights refer to the rights of peoples to be protected from attacks on
their group identity and group interests. The most important such collective right is often said
to be the right of self-determination.

Third-generation human rights are those rights that go beyond the mere civil and social, as
expressed in many progressive documents of international law. They include the
‘1972Stockholm Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment’,
the ‘ 1992Rio Declaration on Environment and Development’ and other pieces of generally
desirable "soft law." These are called soft law because they have not been enacted into legally
binding documents. The difficulty in enacting them into legally binding documents is because
of the principle of sovereignty which respects decisions of a nation. The other reason is that of
the influence and power of nations that might go against the provisions of the rights. These
rights are best described as solidarity rights because they require international cooperation and
aim at community-built ding.

The term "third-generation human rights" remains largely unofficial, and thus houses an
extremely broad spectrum of rights, including:

 Group and collective rights

 Right to self-determination.
 Right to economic and social development.
 Right to a healthy environment
 Right to peace
 Right to communicate

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  Right to participation in cultural heritage
 Rights to clean, health environment and sustainable development.

All the same these rights are not legally binding; they provide a framework for the enjoyment
of all other rights.

Violation of Human rights

Human rights violation refers to the partial or total disregard and the transgression of the human
rights standards and principles, as prescribed in the human rights charter, human rights
convention’s and treaties.

World over human rights are violated in many ways

In the modern times, the violation of civil and political rights has been on considerable scale,
in foam of a Genocide, war crimes, crime against humanity and massacres, have been recorded.
For example,

- The Armenian massacre of 1914 by the ottoman empire soldiers.

- The force displacement and extermination of the nama and helelo people of Namibia
from 1904 – 1905, by the Germans.
- The force displacement, segregation and extermination of the Jews and other minority
groups, such as Lesbians Gays, Bisexual and Transgender people in Europe during the second
world war 1939 – 1945by the Germens.
- The Lumpha church massacre of 1964 by the UNIP government soldiers in northern
and parts of the eastern province of Zambia.
- The continuous arbitrary detention of mostly the Uighurs and other groups such as
CHRISTIANS, Muslins, Kazakhs, and other foreign nationals such as Kazakhstani’s in the re-
education camps of Xinxiang province, by the Chinese government, since 2017. In addition,

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allegations of force sterilization, force abortion, rape, torture inhumane treatment and beating
have been reported. In fact, the camps have been compared to the Chinese cultural revolution.
- The continuous citizenship denial and killing of Rohingya muslins in Rakhine state by
the Myanmar (Burma) military government, these are tantamount to crimes against humanity.
- The massacre of over 20, 000 Ndebele speaking people in Matebele land in Zimbabwe
by the ZANU PF Government soldiers under a project called Gukurahundi in 1981 - 1987.
- The ethnic cleansing and indiscriminate bombing of the Darfur region around the non-
Arabs settlements areas of Sudan by the Sudanese army.
- The Srebrenica massacre of the Bosnian and Bosnian muslin from 1992 - 1995 in the
Bosnian civil war by the army of rrepubika of Srpska.
- The killing of over 800, 000 of the tusk and the moderate Hutus by the majority ethnic
Hutus in Rwanda in 1994.
- The apartheid government policy by the united party of south Africa in which
segregated political system in South Africa from 1948 to the early 1990s that separated the
different peoples living there and gave privileges to those of European origin

Significance of human rights

human rights are such an integral aspect of human life and development. However, human
rights are importance because of the following:

1. Everyone is free and all Individuals deserve to be treated in the same way.
2. all Individuals are equal despite differences in skin color, sex, religion, language for
example.
3. Everyone has the right to life and to live in freedom and safety.
4. No one has the right to treat another person as a slave or make anyone a slave.
5. No one has the right to hurt or torture another person.
6. Everyone has the right to be treated equally by the law.
7. The law is the same for everyone, it should be applied in the same way to all.
8. Everyone has the right to ask for legal help when their rights are not respected.
9. No one has the right to imprison any person unjustly or expel any person from his or
her own country.
10. Everyone has the right to a fair and public trial.
11. Everyone should be considered innocent until guilt is proved.
12. Everyone has the right to ask for help if someone tries to harm him or her, but no one

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can enter somebody’s home, open somebody’s letters or bother somebody or somebody’s
family without a good reason.
13. Everyone has the right to travel as they wish.
14. Everyone has the right to go to another country and ask for protection if they are being
persecuted or are in danger of being persecuted.
15. Everyone has the right to belong to a country. No one has the right to prevent another
person from belonging to another country if he or she wish to.
16. Everyone has the right to marry and have a family.
17. Everyone has the right to own property and possessions.
18. Everyone has the right to practice and observe all aspects of their own religion and
change their religion if they want to.
19. Everyone has the right to say what they think and to give and receive information.
20. Everyone has the right to take part in meetings and to join associations in a peaceful
way.
21. Everyone has the right to help choose and take part in the government of their country.
22. Everyone has the right to social security and to opportunities to develop his or her
skills.
23. Everyone has the right to work for a fair wage in safe environment and to join a trade
union.
24. Everyone has the right to rest and leisure.
25. Everyone has the right to an adequate standard of living and medical help if here or
she is ill.
26. Everyone has the right to go to school.
27. Everyone has the right to share in their community’s cultural life.
28. Everyone must respect the ‘social order’ that is necessary for all these rights to be
available.
29. Everyone must respect the rights of others, the community and public property.
30. No one has the right to take away any of the rights outlined in the human rights charter.

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 Glossary

- A Massacre is a vicious killing of large numbers of people.

- A war crime is a crime committed during wartime that is in violation of international
agreements concerning the conventions of war, e.g. the mistreatment of prisoners, mass rape
against women.
- A crime against humanity is the atrocity and cruel and immoral act such as torture,
murder, or expulsion, committed against a large number of people.
- A Genocide is the systematic killing of all the people from a national, ethnic, or
religious group.

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