What are they?
Human Rights
Syllabus Dot Point
Students learn about:
1. The Nature and development of Human Rights
⬜ The definition of Human Rights
‘DEFINE’
Students learn to: means
STATE THE MEANING
⬜ Define human rights and
IDENTIFY ESSENTIAL
QUALITIES
What are Human rights?
“recognition of the inherent dignity of and the equal
and inalienable rights of all members of the human
family is the foundation of freedom, justice and
peace in the world”.
Inalienable: rights that cannot be taken away
The Preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
What does this mean?
⬜ HR are the basic rights and freedoms that belong to all
human beings.
⬜ HR differ from ordinary rights as they are considered to
be universal (everybody has them), inalienable (cannot
be taken away) and inherent (automatic, born with these
rights, part of being human).
“The government does not give you those rights; it
is the responsibility of the state to recognise them”.
Rights must be balanced with responsibilities, SMH, 2010
Aim of Human Rights
⬜ To set a standard by which to measure inequality and
fairness in society.
⬜ Outline standards to ensure a free, fair and just society.
⬜ Protect individuals from injustice, recognise and respect
the dignity of all people and prevent discrimination
against groups based on race, religion, sex, gender, sexual
orientation, physical characteristics and beliefs.
Syllabus Dot Point
Students learn about:
1. The nature and development of human rights
⬜ Formal statements of Human Rights
- Universal declaration of Human Rights
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
- International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Syllabus Dot Point
Students learn to:
⬜ Examine major human rights documents and explain their
contribution to the development of human rights
EXAMINE EXAMINE major human rights
“inquire into” documents
Look
Look into closely AND
Delve into EXPLAIN their contribution to the
development of human rights
inspect
Formal Statements of HR
World War II UDHR ICCPR ICCPR
& &
1939-1945 1948 ICESCR ICESCR
signed Come into force
1966 1976
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Human rights discussed prior to the declaration.
⬜ Philosophy of Plato, Aristotle etc..
⬜ Codes of Hammurabi, Cyrus the Great
⬜ The Declaration of independence 1776
⬜ The French Declaration on the Rights of Man 1789
⬜ Recognised that there must’ve been some sort of inherent rights of
man. These are examples
History of Development
There was a long history of rights developing in the areas of :
⬜ Slavery
⬜ Labour rights
⬜ Universal Suffrage
⬜ Universal Education
⬜ Self-determination
⬜ Commission on Human Rights was established and told
to develop a Declaration of Human Rights. This was called
the ‘Human Rights Project’. It was chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt.
On the 10th December, 1948
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Voted on in the UN General Assembly
(UDHR)
48 of 58 countries signed
IMPORTANT: Write UNIVERSAL NOT UNITED NATIONS
UDHR
Made up of 30 articles. Covering rights such as:
⬜ Right to life ⬜ Equality
⬜ Liberty ⬜ Asylum
⬜ Security ⬜ Freedom from slavery and
torture
⬜ Thought
⬜ Ability to join trade unions
⬜ Religion
⬜ Participate in cultural life
⬜ Education
⬜ Adequate standard of living
⬜ work
Soft Law V Hard Law
⬜ Soft Law: statements such as declarations which do not
create legal obligations. They do however influence and
create pressure on signatories
⬜ Hard Law: These are conventions and treaties that create
legally binding obligations on their members
Q. What type of Document is the UDHR? Is it an
example of soft or hard law? Explain both.
p.163 in old textbook
What type of document?
⬜ It is a declaration
⬜ It is not a fully binding treaty
⬜ It does not contain enforceable laws or obligations
⬜ It is an example of soft law
Human rights are indivisible- they can’t be separated
from one another.
⬜ One is no more important than the other.
⬜ You cannot favour ONE right over another nor ignore
one at the expense of another
⬜ Example of this can be seen today!
WESTERN Civil and Political Result:
COUNTRIES Rights Terrorist groups like
over Hamas and Hezbollah
The US and its allies Social and Economic have had the support
have favoured: Rights (e.g. when of the local people
dealing with Palestine, because they provide
Iraq, Lebanon) for the social needs
(e.g. schools, hospitals
et)
EASTERN Economic Welfare Result:
COUNTRIES of ‘the state’ Chinese labour camps,
over bans on free speech.
Communist Civil and Political Individuals having rights
Rights of individuals denied for the good of the
countries have country government
favoured:
2014 HSC
The UDHR was only the beginning…
Since the UDHR was so well received by countries, the
Human Rights Commission wanted to move to the next
phase:
By:
MAKING A BINDING VERSION THAT
COUNTRIES WOULD HAVE TO FOLLOW
Why did they need a binding version? Issues
with the Declaration
⬜ Some things in the UDHR were easy enough to be converted into
binding international law. Such as:
⬜ The Conventions on Genocide
⬜ The Geneva Conventions (about what’s not acceptable during wars)
⬜ The Refugee Convention
⬜ They tried to get a formalised version of the UDHR but there were
problems with getting a binding agreement on the rest of the UDHR
Problems with the Declaration
1. The major powers were worried about their sovereignty (especially
their control over “internal” issues) would be violated
2. The developing countries were worried that forcing them to provide
‘economic’ rights for their people would make it impossible for
them to become advanced economies.
“Western” countries (US, etc) favoured Civil and political rights
+
“Eastern” countries (Soviets, etc) favoured Economic rights
= The ‘DIVORCE’ of Human Rights ( Freeland)
The rights in the UDHR got split into TWO binding conventions
The rights in the UDHR got split into TWO binding conventions
ICPR Only signed by
enough countries
to actually come
into force in:
UDHRThe US insisted that these
should be split into two
1966 1976
1948
ICESCR
28 Years
International Bill of Rights
UDH ICCP ICESC
R R R
The International Bill of Rights
International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights (ICCPR)
ICCPR
⬜ Creates an obligation on state parties to respect civil and
political rights of individuals.
⬜ Not all rights are absolute. Meaning they can be altered
or changed for a legitimate purpose. This occurs when
one right is limited in order to protect national security or
the general welfare of a democratic society.
⬜ Some rights are known as non-derogable (absolute).
These rights cannot be changed. These are listed under
article (4) of the ICCPR.
International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights
⬜ Economic, social and cultural rights include the right to
an adequate standard of living, the right to education, the
right to fair wages and the right to safe working
conditions.
⬜ The United Nations Committee on Economic Social and
Cultural Rights (the CESCR) monitors compliance with
the ICESCR and provides guidance on how countries
should interpret the ICESCR.
