Human Rights are Moral Entitlements of All Human Beings

Human rights can be defined as ‘the moral entitlements of all human beings to dignified living, full development of personality and social justice.’(Fernando, L: 2002) Human rights focus mainly on the individual. They are rights one has simply as a human being. Human rights are equal , inalienable and universal. (Donnelly, J. 2003: 10)In cases where a collective of people’s rights are suppressed or denied, group rights have articulated to protect individual rights collectively.

Human rights are firstly natural rights or moral rights. As natural or moral rights human rights cannot be enforced by States. In order to be enforceable moral rights should be incorporated to the laws of the State. The rights recognized by the laws of the State are called legal rights.

The concept of human rights could be categorized into two major philosophies, namely, Liberalism and Socialism. Civil and Political rights are developed based on liberal philosophy while the Social rights are developed based on the social philosophy.

Civil rights include right to life, liberty and security of person; freedom from slavery and servitude; freedom from torture and inhuman punishment; freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention; the right to fair trial; the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty; freedom from arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home or correspondence; the right to own property; freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Civil rights cater to the moral or psychological nature of human beings.

Political rights include regular political participation of the people in the affairs of the government through the right to vote, right to a nationality; freedom of political opinion and expression; right of equal access to public service; freedom of movement; right of asylum; free and fair elections and the formation of political parties and pressure groups. Political rights cater to the political nature of human beings.

Social rights include the right to education; employment; health care; social security; right to marry and found a family; right to rest and leisure; and right to participate in the cultural rights of the community. Social rights cater to the biological or existential nature of human beings.

Human rights are most likely to be achieved when, 1. state makers emerge through institutional channels of free and fair elections; 2. both governmental and oppositional political mobilizations take democratic and non-violent forms; and 3. international conditions are conductive, without super power rivalry and conflicts within the UN system. (Fernando, L: 2002)

Reference:
Donnelly, J. (2003) Universal Human Rights – In Theory and Practice. (2d. ed) Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
 
Fernando, L. (2002) Human Rights, Politics and States: Burma, Cambodia, Sri Lanka. Colombo: Social Scientist Association.