Research Paper on the Topic

HUMAN RIGHTS

Submitted to

Miss Rishika Singh

Submitted by

Ishu Deshmukh

(Semester IV)

Hidayatullah National Law University Raipur C.G.

 INTRODUCTION

Human rights are the rights given to every individual in the world which applies from birth
till death. It is the right which can be enjoyed by everyone without any discrimination, as they
are human being so they have this right to enjoy. One can lose these rights if he or she ceases
to be a human being. Human rights are those basic standards without which people cannot
live in dignity. To violate someones human rights is to treat that person as though she or he
were not a human being. To advocate human rights is to demand that the human dignity of all
people be respected. They apply regardless of where you are from, what you believe or how
you choose to live your life. They can never be taken away, although they can sometimes be
restricted for example if a person breaks the law, or in the interests of national security.

These basic rights are based on values like dignity, fairness, equality, respect and
independence. But human rights are not just abstract concepts they are defined and
protected by law.

In some communities, human rights include a specific set of laws and legislation. In others,
human rights are simply guidelines that reflect the morals and expectations of individuals
within that community.
 Rights: Meaning and Definition

A right is something to which every individual in the community is morally permitted, and
for which that community is entitled to disrespect or compulsorily remove anything that
stands in the way of even a single individual getting it. Rights belong to individuals, and no
organisation has any rights not directly derived from those of its members as individuals; and,
just as an individual's rights cannot extend to where they will intrude on another individual's
rights, similarly the rights of any organisation whatever must yield to those of a single
individual, whether inside or outside the organisation. Rights are those important conditions
of social life without which no person can generally realize his best self. These are the
essential conditions for health of both the individual and his society. It is only when people
get and enjoy rights that they can develop their personalities and contributes their best
services to the society.

Rights are the common claims of people which every cultured society recognizes as essential
claims for their development, and which are therefore enforced by the state.

1. According to Laski, Rights are those conditions of social life without which no man
can seek in general, to be himself at his best.

2. T. H. Green explained that Rights are powers necessary for the fulfilment of mans
vocation as a moral being.

3. Beni Prasad stated that Rights are nothing more nor less than those social conditions
which are necessary or favourable to the development of personality
 Human Rights

Human rights are the rights a person has simply because he or she is a human being.

Human rights are the basic rights and freedoms that belong to every person in the world, from
birth until death. They apply regardless of where you are from, what you believe or how you
choose to live your life. They can never be taken away, although they can sometimes be
restricted for example if a person breaks the law, or in the interests of national security.

These basic rights are based on values like dignity, fairness, equality, respect and
independence. But human rights are not just abstract concepts they are defined and
protected by law.

What Are Human Rights?

Human rights are held by all persons equally, universally, and forever.

Human rights are inalienable: you cannot lose these rights any more than you can
cease being a human being.
Human rights are indivisible: you cannot be denied a right because it is "less
important" or "non-essential."
Human rights are interdependent: all human rights are part of a complementary
framework. For example, your ability to participate in your government is directly
affected by your right to express yourself, to get an education, and even to obtain the
necessities of life.

Another definition for human rights is those basic standards without which people cannot live
in dignity. To violate someones human rights is to treat that person as though she or he were
not a human being. To advocate human rights is to demand that the human dignity of all
people be respected.
In claiming these human rights, everyone also accepts the responsibility not to infringe on the
rights of others and to support those whose rights are abused or denied.

Human rights in India

Human rights are vital for all round development of individuals. The Constitution of India
makes provisions for basic rights also known as Fundamental Rights for its citizens as well as
for aliens. The Supreme Court of India is the guarantor of the rights according to the
Constitution. The court takes into account fundamental duties while interpreting the
constitutional right. In Indian constitution, Rights are classified mainly in three broad
categories: (a) Civil (b) Political (c) Economic and Social. Fundamental Rights in India
recognize certain civil rights. Certain Political and Economic and Social rights are recognized
by other provisions in the Constitution. The Supreme Court of India recognizes Fundamental
Right as natural right

In Indian constitution, the Fundamental Rights are defined as the basic human rights of all
citizens. These rights are defined in Part III of the Constitution regardless of race, place of
birth, religion, caste, creed or sex.

Guha quoted that The demand for a declaration of fundamental rights arose from four
factors:

Lack of civil liberty in India during the British rule.

Deplorable social conditions, particularly affecting the untouchables and women.

Existence of different religious, linguistic, and ethnic groups encouraged and

exploited by the Britishers.

Exploitation of the tenants by the landlords.

 Importance of human rights
The importance of the human rights movement is that it tells people that one cannot call a
society a good and a just society until all its citizens enjoy these human rights. The human
rights law aims at eliminating unjust discrimination against any human being. The concept of
Human rights is based on the principle of human solidarity, cooperation, and development
and access of all to the common heritage of humankind.

The impact and importance of human rights are so deep and strong that the constitutions of
India, Indonesia, and other countries incorporated many of the provisions of rights codified in
the said Declaration in their respective constitutions. This may be treated as landmark the
history of progress of civilization.

The Charter of human rights exerts tremendous pressure on all political authorities. Strong
vigilance is noticed throughout world against the violation of human rights.

Women empowerment: The issue of women empowerment and inequality have been taken
up as a Human rights issue. Several institutions, organizations are working hard to create
awareness among the masses. It is high time that every person within the society come
forward in support women in her fight for justice. She should be treated at par with men all
venues of social framework. Her position need to be elevated.

Impact of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the United Nation Organisation, adopted
on 10th December 1948, enumerates various Civil & Political Rights and Economic and
Social Rights. This Declaration had a great impact on the philosophy and ideology of the
Constitution framers, while the Constitution of India was in the making at that time. Many
similar rights were incorporated in our Constitution under the headings Fundamental Rights
and Directive Principles of the State Policy in Chapter III & IV respectively and these rights
have a great significance for the Indian people as they have enabled every citizen of India to
live freely and honourably. A human being gets full freedom to develop himself mentally and
physically, through the principles imbedded by freedom fighters lead by Mahatma Gandhi.

At the time of Declaration of the Human Rights, the General Assembly proclaimed the
Universal Declaration was to be a common standard of achievement for all the people and all
the nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of the society, keeping the
declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for
these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure
their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the people of Member
states themselves and among themselves and among the people of territories under their
jurisdiction.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights promulgated by the United Nations, to which
India was a party, proclaimed basic human rights, although it did not provide for any
machinery for its enforcement. The historical struggle for political freedom in India had made
a declaration of Fundamental Rights inevitable. In fact, the Indian Declaration at the Round
Table Conference had pressed for the enactment of Fundamental Rights in the Constitution
which, it was expected the British Parliament would pass.

India adopted its Republican Constitution in 1950 and included a special part on Fundamental
Rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted and proclaimed by the General
Assembly of the United Nations on the 10th of December 1948 is indeed one of the precious
events in the ongoing march of mankind in the direction of refining civilization. A standard
code of Human Rights for the entire homo sapiens race was made applicable to the whole
globe and it was what mankind had been striving over for centuries. Now what is understood
is that the premises for the Universal Declaration is that the entire mankind is treated as one
member of one human family; the rights are inalienable and are considered on the foundation
of freedom, justice and peace. Dignity of the human person is acclaimed and men and women
with equal rights are indeed to march ahead for the promotion of social progress and for the
better standards of life and environment of such freedom. The topic of human rights is of
universal concern and it cuts across all ideological, political and cultural boundaries. Respect
for human rights is one of the cardinal principles for an effective operation of Constitution,
Law and the Government of any country. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights is based on two assumptions namely, the right to liberty and equality is mans birth
right and cannot be alienated, because man is rational and a moral being, he is different from
other creations on earth and, therefore, is entitled to certain rights and freedoms which other
creators do not enjoy.Here it is contentatious to note the words of Prof. Upendra Baxi, who
holds that I take it as axiomatic that the historic mission of the contemporary human rights is
to give voice to human suffering to make it visible and to ameliorate it. Laying down the very
basis of the Human Rights, the commendable author goes on to continue that the ethics of
human rights emerges as a tradition of critical morality by which the positive morality of
human rights practices themselves may be judged. Respect towards the other as a co-equal
human is a groundwork of an ethic of human rights, furnishing universal valid norms for
human conduct and the basic structure of a society. [1] Every societal culture encapsulates
beliefs, sentiments, symbols that impart sense to the notion of being human, no matter in how
many different registers of inclusivity. These societal human rights cultures relate to global
cultures of human rights. They are shaped by the golden cultures and in turn shape them.

Also, though they were added later by way of amendment, the fundamental duties enshrined
in the Constitution of India, contained in Part IV A, are in consonance with Article 29 (1) of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which says, everyone has duties to the
community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible". We
must reaffirm faith in recognition of the inherent dignity and inalienable rights of all citizens
as the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world, which implies obligations and
responsibilities. Human rights, thus, go hand in hand with responsibilities. It is very
necessary that all citizens should be made aware of the potential of Article 51A relating to
fundamental duties as a means to ensure the protection of human rights. Hereby, the demand
for effective protection of Human Rights has also gained prominence by this Declaration.

Promoting and Protecting Human Rights in the UN system

A major step in drafting the International Bill of Human Rights was realized on 10 December
1948, when the General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a
common standard of achievement for all peoples and nations. However, at same time when
the Universal Declaration was being made, the Constitution of India was also in making. Part
III and Part IV of the Constitution were specifically created, with an interest of providing for
the Human Rights in the Constitution itself and on a further comparison of the two
documents, it is found that the two are conspicuously similar and tend to give effect to
promote the standard of the Human being as such and also to secure him the natural rights,
which formed a part of his right to live a peaceful and amicable right. Constitutional
guarantees for the human rights of our people were one of the persistent demands of our
leaders throughout the freedom struggle. It was made as far back as in 1895 in the
Constitution of India Bill, popularly known as the Swaraj Bill, which was inspired by
Lokmanya Tilak. The demand was repeated in Mrs. Anne Besants Commonwealth of India
Bill, finalized by the National Convention of Political parties in 1925, by the Motilal Nehru
Committee in 1928, at the Karachi session of the Indian National Congress in 1932 and by
the Tej Bahadur Sapru Committee, 1944-45.

Greatest legal luminaries of our country participated in the Constitutional debates and on the
basis of the human rights Jurisprudence of 1950, Part III of the Constitution containing the
Chapter on Fundamental Rights was evolved. On the analogy of the Irish Constitution, other
rights came to be included in Part IV and were called the Directive Principles of State Action.

The distinction between fundamental rights and human rights is that the political decisions
lead to fundamental rights while the moral principles lead to human rights. The above-
mentioned distinction between human and fundamental rights is based on a distinction
between morality and ethics. Human rights indicate moral universalistic principles, while
fundamental rights form the particularistic ethics of the community in which they play the
functional role of fundamental norms that legitimise ordinary law. Accordingly, human rights
are universal because of their being grounded only on the notion of person, transcending any
particular context. Fundamental rights, instead, are characterised by their function within a
particular judicial and political system, regardless of the scope of this system. [2]

Fundamental Rights are provided to the citizens by the Constitution of India. The
Fundamental Rights and Duties are among the vital sections of the Constitution and prescribe
the fundamental obligations of the state to its citizens and the duties of the citizens to the
state. These are the essential elements of the constitution and they were developed by the
Constituent Assembly of India between 1947 and 1949. Part III of the Constitution of India
describes the Fundamental Rights offered to the country`s citizens. Fundamental Rights are
essential human rights that can be offered to every citizen irrespective of caste, race, creed,
place of birth, religion or gender. Fundamental Rights are subjected to specific restrictions
and enforceable by courts. These are equal to freedoms and these rights are essential for
personal good and the society at large.

Fundamental Rights are preserved as they guarantee civil liberties to all the citizens of the
country for a calm and pleasant life. These are individual rights and comprise freedom of
speech and expression, freedom to practice religion, equality before law, freedom of
association and peaceful assembly and the right to constitutional remedies for the safeguard
of civil rights by means of writs such as habeas corpus. The concept of providing the
fundamental rights to the citizens has been taken from the England`s Bill of Rights; United
States Bill of Rights and also France`s Declaration of the Rights of Man. Anyone who is
violating the fundamental rights will face punishments in the court of law.

Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar, the Founder Father of Indian Constitution made a cautionary note
on the eve of adopting the constitution of India:

Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization,
through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization
and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his
dignity and the free development of his personality.
 CONCLUSION

Even today, there are several instances of human rights violation at various places of the
world. There can be no permanent and regular prosperity of human beings unless every
country or nation creates such conditions in which human rights are enjoyed by its natives.
The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act has the potential
to bring about social change by sending the message that human rights violations against The
issue of women empowerment and inequality have been taken up as a Human rights issue.
Several institutions, organizations are working hard to create awareness among the masses. It
is high time that every person within the society come forward in support women in her fight
for justice. She should be treated at par with men all venues of social framework. Her
position need to be elevated.