Human Rights are Based on Human Needs

Human needs are the needs we must have in order to lead a full life. (South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre. 2000: 10) When discussing human needs, it is important to distinguish between human needs and human wants. Our wants are the things which we desire in our lives, but are not essential to our existence. Human Rights do not encompass all our wants, but the needs that are recognized internationally and locally as essential for existence.

Maslow has analyzed human needs and categorized it according to hierarchical order. The analysis highlights the relationship between human needs and human nature. It explains how human nature changes when fulfilling different categories of human needs. Maslow’s analysis is presented in order to develop a relationship between human needs, human nature and human rights.

1. The physiological needs. These include the needs we have for oxygen, water, food, to rest, to sleep, to get rid of wastes (CO2, sweat, urine, and faeces), to avoid pain and to engage in sexual activities.

2. The safety and security needs. These are needs for protection, stability, safe circumstances and for order. These needs are to protect against one’s fears and anxieties.

3. The love and belonging needs. Human beings are social animals who do not like to be lonely. After fulfilling the physiological and security needs, they are concerned about developing relationships and a sense of community.

4. The esteem needs. Next, humans begin to look for self-esteem. According to Maslow, there are two versions of esteem needs, a lower one and a higher one. The lower one is the need for the respect of others, the need for status, fame, glory, recognition, attention, reputation, appreciation and dignity. The higher form involves the need for self-respect including such feelings as confidence, competence, achievement, mastery, independence and freedom. The distinction between the higher form and the lower form is that in the higher form of esteem, one is not looking for social recognition and acceptance but one has the feeling of esteem within oneself.

5. Self-actualization. The need to fulfill one’s potential is the need for self-actualization. It is a different form of need than the others. Maslow calls it growth motivation (in contrast to deficit motivation) or being needs (or B-needs, in contrast to D-needs). The difference is that self actualization need is likely to become stronger as one feeds them while when one fulfills the deficit needs, one does not feel the need any longer.