What Are Universal Human Rights?

Part two: Human Rights

Human rights

The office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights provides a concise, yet conclusive definition of what are human rights, as being: rights inherent to all human beings, whatever their nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, language, or any other status. Everyone is equally entitled to their human rights without discrimination. These rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible. It then adds that Universal human rights are often expressed and guaranteed by law, in the forms of treaties, customary international law, general principles and other sources of international law. International human rights law lays down obligations of Governments to act

Some of which are described as natural , but this is not their fundamental attribute, or the reason for their selection. They were documented after the Second World War which has contributed to their selection. At the same time, a balance should be maintained as all individuals make part of some community. The balance needs to be maintained between the rights of persons as well as with the rights of the community that they adhere to, and further towards the larger human unit. The existing conflict of rights, or appearance of one, may be a translation of the attempt to reach such a balance.

In the field of human rights, these fundamental rights are documented in the International Bill of Human Right, of the United Nations, which consists of:

- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights , although it has no legal binding as it is not a treaty, and does not require signing, it is gaining status as customary international law.

- The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights , and

- The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as well

The declaration itself called for further conventions to be developed. This would make these rights, regardless of their nature or justification, enforceable, and make them part of legal systems, or to be included in newly formed constitutions, though not, necessarily, explicitly.

The ratification of these conventions such as International Convention of Economic and Social Rights (ICESR) and the International Convention of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) would serve the purpose. These rights, human rights, are believed to be natural rights that a natural person acquires because he/she belongs to the human race. They are not granted by a body or an institution, however institutions should enforce them (Cassin quote).

Human rights concern all aspects of existence of the human being, physical and intellectual, as individuals and as part of a community of humans. Some of these rights were justified in different pretexts; such as the right of property, right of free expression, and the right of access to information , bearing in mind the different outlook to these rights in different legal