Types Of Human Rights
Learn about the Types Of Human Rights. The development of human rights has been a continuous quest. The contributions of great thinkers, philosophers, theologians, social scientists and reformers as well as national, regional and world bodies have come to shape what is today known as Human Rights and Liberties.
Human Rights could be understood as those rights obtained in the United Nations Conventions, Bill of Rights, International laws, as well as continental/regional human rights treaties.
There are several types of human rights which are as follows:
The fundamental rights to life (sanctity of life and physical existence), social rights, economic rights, civil/political rights, moral rights, group rights, rights to development, rights of women and children, and so on.
Right to life, is in fact, the most fundamental of all types of human rights. This is because it qualifies to stand as the foundation, or the super-structure on which all other rights are built. Certainly, every man should have a right to his physical existence and all that support human life (both on himself and that of others). Thus, man’s right to physical existence and integrity; liberty, and freedom from torture, cruel, or inhuman treatment, slavery, servitude, and forced labor, are inalienable to him. And these rights to live and live well extend even to children and the unborn child.
It is pre-eminent and primary of all men without discriminations to own and use material goods and services of the world for a decent livelihood. This is the basis for economic rights. Moreover, all must give to labor the place assigned to it as the only legitimate means of achieving material and economic power and privilege. Thus, economic rights are directed towards ensuring that all citizens without discrimination have opportunity for securing adequate means of livelihood, suitable employment, the duty to work according to one’s ability, as well as the right to receive remuneration according to work done.
Moral-Cultural Rights
Man cannot really and truly be himself without authentic self existence. As culture is a way of life of a people, man cannot do without some ‘roots’ in his culture and values. Therefore, cultural and moral rights refer to having the rights to take part I one’s cultural norms, beliefs and values, which should be seriously respected by other human beings irrespective of their cultural differences. Depriving or denying one of his culture, is to uproot and alienate him, thereby making him less a cultural man and less a human. This is one of the most critical of all types of human rights that have caused a lot of problems all over the world.
Rights to development
The General Assembly of the United Nations in December 1986, proclaimed the right to development. The spirit of this important right is that nations as well as individuals must consciously map out programs to galvanize common efforts aimed at socio-cultural, political and economic expansion to gain not only scientific and technological progress, greater productivity, efficient and higher standard of living, but to organize and develop the political community to be stable and friendly, where every individual realizes his full human potential and status. For this reason, the individuals must be exposed to appropriate education geared towards the development of his physical, intellectual, moral and spiritual potentials.
Rights to Women and Children
On the 1th December 1979, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 34/180 approving the convention on the Elimination of ‘All Forms of Discrimination Against Women’. This convention set out ways and means for individual governments to eliminate discriminations against women, and to guarantee an equitable distribution of rights and obligations between men and women. The issue of women and children, especially girl child was formally brought to the fore. These types of human rights came as a result of the observation that shows that women and their children have shared a heavy burden of human deprivation, discrimination and degradation especially during wars and adverse economic and political unrest.
