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UNDERSTANDING HUMAN RIGHTS

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Ogochukwu Nweke
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Human rights was defined by Donnelly (2013) who also referred to it as “the rights of man”, as

“literally the rights that one has because one is human.”

As pointed out by Bantekas and Oette (2016) a lot of people and groups use human rights in a

loose way to mean rights available to every person because they are human. As loosely as that

understanding might be, it actually reflects on a basic level, the essence of the two words that came

together to form the term. Human refers to everyone on earth irrespective of their age, ethnicity,

nationality, ideology, orientation, sex or creed. Rights refers to privileges that one compulsorily

deserves irrespective of his or her age, ethnicity, nationality, ideology, orientation, sex or creed.

Rights are usually legally enforceable in character and application. Human rights are therefore

privileges and opportunities which a person is entitled to by the simple virtue of the fact that he is

a human being.

However, the definition of Human Rights is more technical and “to take the meaning of human

rights for granted, or simply to refer to formulas denoting rights that we have by virtue of being

human, would ignore the controversy surrounding their foundations and validity.” (Bantekas and

Oette, 2016, 2nd edn)

According to the United Nations ‘human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, regardless

of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status.” These rights include

“the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression,

the right to work and education… and everyone is entitled to access to these rights, without

discrimination.”
Article 4 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights states that “Human beings are

inviolable. Every human being shall be entitled to respect for his life and the integrity of his person.

No one may be arbitrarily deprived of this right.”

Human rights have been viewed from three main categories, namely: Civil and political rights,

which protects people from the infringements of governments, organisations or other people;

Socioeconomic and cultural rights, which includes right to education, housing and satisfactory

living conditions; and Solidarity rights, which recognizes the importance of equality and non-

discrimination. (Foster, 2006)

Human rights apply in two main dimensions, namely: entitlements based on specific values or

principles; and legally enforceable entitlements and freedoms. The underlying notion behind it, is

that it is necessarily available to a person because he or she is a human being. However, it is not

every legal right that applies in the perspective of human rights. Legal right is “a right created or

recognized by law. Its breach is usually remediable by monetary damages. It is also a right

historically recognized by common law courts and so would include equitable rights. Legal rights

can further be described as the capacity of asserting a legally recognized claim against one with a

correlative duty to act. (Black Law Dictionary). These rights are not only enjoyed by human

beings, but by corporate bodies and even animals. Human rights can be an integral part of legal

rights and legal rights go far beyond human rights and encompass other units of rights.

Universally, many recognize human rights as evidently a typically integral part of international

relations (Donnelly, 2013, 3rd edn pg 24). It is believed that the first steps taken to ensure and

preserve human rights were witnessed at the end of the Second World War. However, there were

signs of the preservation of human rights on the basis of international relations. Examples would
include the recognistion of the religious rights of minority Christians, which led to the end of an

over thirty year war and the peace of Westphalia in 1648. Reference is also made to the Slave

Trade Act of 1807, which brought an end to slave trade as it was known then.

Other angles of history which refer to the address of issues of human rights on an international

level include, The Cyrus Cylinder where Cyrus the Great freed slaves and gave people the freedom

to adhere to any religion they desire around 539 BC; the Magna Carta Libertatum (Great Charter

of Freedoms) which was the charter of rights 1215. The Magna Carta was an instrument of peace

(drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury) between King John I of England and the rebel barons.

It upheld the right of churches, protected the barons from illegal imprisonment, ensured access to

swift justice and limited feudal payments to the Crown. It will also be pertinent to refer to the

French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789, Article 1 of which says that

“men are born and remain free and equal in rights…”, which according to encyclopedia Britannica

“were specified as the rights of liberty”

The efforts of the United Nations towards international human rights protection began in the wake

of the 1940s and gave rise to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948. 48 out

of the 58 members of the United Nations General Assembly voted in favour of the content of the

UDHR, 8 abstained from voting and 2 were absent. The huge number of support for the charter

does not mean however, that the UDHR was accepted without dissentions. The communists

countries for example, had issues with how the document did not pay due regard to sovereignty;

Saudi Arabia was concerned about the fact that the UDHR gave voice to the right to change one’s

religion whenever he or she so chooses; and South Africa which as at the time of the UDHR was

still under the apartheid regime was uncomfortable with the issue of racial equality. (Bantekas and

Oette, 2016, 2nd edn)

of human rights on an international level, because the UN Charter also came with the establishment

of the International Court of Justice, which is a very important part of the enforcement of

international human rights. See Chapter 14 of the Charter. With this establishment came the

procedure for the membership of ICJ. The UN Charter also has articles that will inspire the

commitment of member states, with various committees and units set up to ensure the preservation

of the relationship among member states and the political, economic and other rights of the citizens

of these states.

Ogochukwu Chidiebere Nweke is a Legal Practitioner and a Mediator. He is currently the Vice

President of Synergies Institute–Ghana. You can reach him on bravellb@yahoo.co.uk

African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, 1981

Black Law Dictionary

Brief History of Human Rights (2008). Retrieved from: https://www.humanrights.com/what-are-

human-rights/brief-history/

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. Retrieved from:

https://www1.curriculum.edu.au/ddunits/downloads/pdf/dec_of_rights.pdf

Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Declaration-of-the-

Rights-of-Man-and-of-the-Citizen

I. Bantekas and L. Oette (2016) International Human Rights Law And Practice, 2nd edn,

Cambridge University Press

J Donnelly, (2013) Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practise, 3rd edn, Cornell University

Press, New York

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2017). Retrieved from:

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/legal-rights/#WhatKindEntiLegaRighHold
 The Cyrus Cylinder. Retrieved from: https://sites.ualberta.ca/~egarvin/assets/the-cyrus-

cylinder.pdf

The Magna Carter. Retrieved from: https://www.constitution.org/eng/magnacar.pdf

The Magna Carter and Issues with Monarchs of England. Retrieved from:

https://www.etownschools.org/cms/lib/PA01000774/Centricity/Domain/629/The%20Magna%20

Carta101.pdf

United Nations’ definition of human rights. Retrieved from:

https://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/human-rights/

United Nations Charter, 1945

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948

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