Law
United Nations human rights
The United Nations human rights refer to the fundamental rights and freedoms that are recognized and protected by the United Nations. These rights are outlined in various international treaties and declarations, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The UN works to promote and protect these rights through various mechanisms, including monitoring and reporting on human rights violations.
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9 Key excerpts on "United Nations human rights"
eBook - PDF- Ilias Bantekas, Lutz Oette(Authors)
- 2016(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), refers in its preamble and article 1 to claims and freedoms that human beings enjoy by virtue of their humanity: that is, inherent rights. These rights are based on the principles of dignity, equality and liberty, and are underpinned by notions of solidarity. While the notion of human rights is arguably of more recent origin, it is part of a broader development that can be traced back to the earlier stages of human history. At the core of human rights lie fundamental questions about the nature of human beings and their relationship with each other as members of societies, including ‘international society’. In this context human rights address the rela- tionship of individuals to others, in particular to those in a position of power (especially civil and political rights, equality and non-discrimination) and the relationships of groups and their members to others (minority rights, right to self- determination and rights of indigenous peoples); the settlement of disputes and administration of justice (fair trial in modern parlance); rights to participate in the polis (particularly freedom of expression and related rights, including the right to vote); and the material (in the broadest sense) conditions for a life of dignity and freedom (social, economic and cultural rights; the right to development). This section traces the historical development of human rights and its most prominent manifestation, international human rights law. It examines the antecedents and formation of human rights with a view both to locating them in a broader socio-political history and to identifying their specific nature. This undertaking is important at a time when the validity of human rights, though seemingly triumphant, is being called into question on account of their association with particular historical and political developments and ideas that are associated with Western secular liberal democracies.
eBook - PDF- S.B. Chrimes(Author)
- 2001(Publication Date)
- Yale University Press(Publisher)
The fact is that around the world, interpretations 7 51 of the words inhuman and degrading 55 named in the Covenant Against Torture do go beyond what American courts have determined is the intent of the cruel and unusual punishment 55 forbidden in the Eighth Amendment. The U.N. Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Dis-crimination (CERD) has also issued many rulings on the nature of dis-crimination that are more advanced than the customary definition in America. In addition, this U.N. committee, which monitors compliance with the CERD, has not directed its attention to the United States. As of late 1999 the State Department had not submitted the report that was due. Clearly the definition of discrimination based on race that the U.N. Committee on CERD has issued is more expansive than are comparable interpretations by U.S. legislatures and courts. It is easy to criticize the caution and the mired bureaucracy of the U.N. agencies devoted to human rights. That sentiment was prominent at the U.N. World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993. The cry there, echoing a generation of similar pleas, was for the creation of the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. The model and even the title were taken from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, an effective agency which, despite its limitations, seems to be acting where it is now needed—in Southeast Asia, Rwanda, and Kosovo. The office of the U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights was cre-ated in 1994 (pursuant to the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights) and is headed by Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland. Her mandate is daunting: coordinate and intensify all U.N. efforts to improve and enhance human rights. The long-held dream of having a czar 55 for human rights has been realized. But the decentralized and fragmented agencies on human rights established by the United Nations over the past fifty-five years cannot easily be integrated into a unified system.
- Rhona Smith(Author)
- 2022(Publication Date)
- Hart Publishing(Publisher)
Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 3 Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations, Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom, Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in cooperation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms, Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge, Now, therefore, The General Assembly, Proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this 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 peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction .Article 1 All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights .They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood .Article 2 Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status .Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international
eBook - PDF- Sven Bernhard Gareis(Author)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- Red Globe Press(Publisher)
This applies first to the recognition that human rights may be violated even in mature democracies, as – The United Nations and Human Rights 151 besides the difficulties shown above in the context of the struggle against terror-ism – the annual reports of Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch make clear. Even more, however, it applies to the problem of double standards, when industrialized countries on the one hand condition development aid on the fulfil-ment of human rights requirements, and on the other overlook serious human rights abuses when these take place in countries of great political or economic importance. Despite these ongoing and problematic issues, the UN might feasibly be the best-suited global forum for the task of human rights/civilizational standard-setting to finally be accomplished. It is suited to this task as is no other interna-tional organization. As in the case of most other matters of international concern, however, the UN is dependent on the personal, financial, material and above all political, support of its member states. In Chapter 6, the means and opportunities available to the UN in the realm of human rights protection will be analysed in the context of the discussion that has just been sketched out above. Human Rights in the UN Charter A universally valid list of codified norms and rules is essential for the effective protection of human rights on a global scale. However, as has already been shown, the founding member states of the UN acted with the utmost restraint and care when framing the UN Charter’s provisions on human rights and their protection, so that no inclusion of a comprehensive catalogue of human rights in the Charter was possible. Human rights did not even rate an article of their own, let alone a whole chapter. The limited number of provisions on human rights goals or obligations that did find their way into the Charter is spread out over a number of Chapters and Articles dealing ostensibly with other matters.
eBook - PDFChildren's Rights Education in Diverse Classrooms
Pedagogy, Principles and Practice
- Lee Jerome, Hugh Starkey(Authors)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Bloomsbury Academic(Publisher)
Human rights stem from a utopian or hopeful vision of a free, just and peaceful world. The Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) takes as its premise that this vision of an ideal and harmonious world could exist only if everybody understands and respects the minimum standards of entitlement and expectation set out in the preamble and articles of the UDHR (1948). Schools and other places of formal education have a key role to play in transmitting and fostering understandings of human rights. Although understandings will be influenced by context, the core principles of equality of rights and equality of entitlement to dignity and respect should be constant. 18 Children’s Rights Education in Diverse Classrooms To achieve this, HRE aims to ensure that teachers, parents and students anywhere in the world will be aware of and understand that human rights stem from an international consensus, expressed originally in the UN Charter and repeated and developed in the UDHR. This seminal milestone Declaration offers a vision of ‘freedom, justice and peace in the world’ that can be realized, by ‘recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family’. We examined some of the implications of this in Chapter 1. What we will develop here is the fact that children are ‘members of the human family’ and that consequently they are entitled equally with other, older, family members to respect of their dignity and recognition that their rights are not conditional. Human beings, in a human rights perspective, do not have to earn their rights. They do not have to behave well in order to be entitled to them. They do not have to show maturity or common sense. That said, the benefits of human rights, such as equality, health, education, shelter, protection from harm, are rarely fully realized without a struggle.
eBook - PDFMorals, Rights and Practice in the Human Services
Effective and Fair Decision-Making in Health, Social Care and Criminal Justice
- Tony Ward, Marie Connolly(Authors)
- 2007(Publication Date)
- Jessica Kingsley Publishers(Publisher)
Effectively this meant including positive as well as negative rights and the stipulation that govern-ments were required to provide services and goods to their citizens as opposed to simply ensuring they were not subject to arbitrary violence or unjustified restrictions of liberty. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights consists of a preamble assert-ing the dignity of human beings followed by 30 articles outlining specific rights to objects such as freedom from torture, security of the person, a fair trial and due process, property ownership, freedom to and from discrimination, freedom to marry, access to work, religious freedom, and so on. The first 21 articles of the UDHR are concerned primarily with civil and political rights and in this respect resemble bills of rights developed during the Enlightenment and even earlier periods of history. Examples of this type of rights include the right to own property (article 17.1), freedom from discrimination (articles 2, 7), opportunities to vote in periodic elections (article 21.3), freedom of assembly UNDERSTANDING HUMAN RIGHTS / 21 and association (article 20), freedom of movement and residence (article 13), and freedom of thought, religion and conscience (article 18). In contrast, articles 22 to 27 outline entitlements to social, cultural and economic benefits, such as an adequate standard of living (article 25), reasonable health care (article 25), social security (article 22), a just wage for workers (article 23.3), special care for children and mothers (article 25.1), rest and leisure (article 24), and at least an elementary education (article 26). The UDHR was followed by two international covenants in 1966 (the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) that provided more detail on the various articles outlined in the original UN declaration (Freeman 2002; Nickel 2007).
eBook - PDFInternational Law
Cases and Materials with Australian Perspectives
- Donald Rothwell, Stuart Kaye, Afshin Akhtarkhavari, Ruth Davis(Authors)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
46 Julie A. Mertus, The United Nations and Human Rights: A Guide for a New Era, Routledge, London, 2005, p 44. 47 Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, The United Nations human rights Treaty System: An Introduction to the Core Human Rights Treaties and the Treaty Bodies, Fact Sheet 30. 48 See 9.2.2. Chapter 9 Human rights 545 Figure 1 The UN human rights treaty system The United Nations human rights treaty system International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965) International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966) International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) Committee on Enforced Disappearances Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006) Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) Optional Protocol (1999) Optional Protocol (2008) Optional Protocol (1966) Optional Protocol (1989) Optional Protocol (2002) Optional Protocol (2011) Optional Protocol (2000) Optional Protocol (2006) Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1984) Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979) International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (1990) International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (2006) Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women Committee against Torture Committee on the Rights of the Child Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Human Rights Committee Optional Protocol (2000) Source: UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, The UN Human Rights Treaty System, Fact Sheet No. 30/Rev.1 (2012), p. 4.
No longer available |Learn more- (Author)
- 2007(Publication Date)
- United Nations Publications(Publisher)
Rights can be fully realized, Convinced of the aim of creating conditions of stability and well-being, which are necessary for peaceful and friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principles of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, Convinced also that life without war is the primary in- ternational prerequisite for the material well-being, devel- opment and progress of countries and for the full imple- mentation of the rights and fundamental human freedoms proclaimed by the United Nations, Convinced further that international cooperation in the field of human rights contributes to creating an interna- tional environment of peace and stability, 1. Stresses that peace is a vital requirement for the pro- motion and protection of all human rights for all; 2. Also stresses that the deep fault line that divides hu- man society between the rich and the poor and the ever- increasing gap between the developed and developing worlds pose a major threat to global prosperity, peace and security and stability; 3. Solemnly declares that the peoples of our planet have a sacred right to peace and that the preservation and pro- motion of peace constitutes a fundamental obligation of each State; 4. Emphasizes that the preservation and promotion of peace demands that the policies of States be directed towards the elimination of the threat of war, particularly nuclear war, the renunciation of the use or threat of use of force in international relations and the settlement of in- ternational disputes by peaceful means on the basis of the Charter of the United Nations; 5. Affirms that all States should promote the estab- lishment, maintenance and strengthening of international peace and security and an international system based on respect for the principles enshrined in the Charter and the promotion of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, Protection of human rights 761 including the right to development and the right of peoples to self-determination; 6.
eBook - PDFInternational Law
Cases and Materials with Australian Perspectives
- Donald R Rothwell, Stuart Kaye, Afshin Akhtar-Khavari, Ruth Davis, Imogen Saunders(Authors)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
But these freedoms are much less real to him than his freedom to be exploited. Only as his poverty is reduced will his existing political freedom become properly meaningful and his right to human dignity become a fact of human dignity. 34 This might be best summed up as a call for the right to development, which has received its own share of attention in the international human rights discourse. 35 Do you agree that a hierarchy of rights exists among civil, political, social, cultural and economic rights or are they indivisible and interdependent? 9.3.2 Different kinds of human rights There are a significant number and variety of international instruments, opinions and practices that seek to define the details of the prevalent norms of the human rights discourse internation- ally and establish the basis for its functional operation. In addition to the UDHR, some of the other significant human rights instruments are the: • 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) 36 • 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) 37 • four Geneva Conventions of 1949 that form the core of human rights obligations during armed conflict 38 • 1950 European Convention on Human Rights 39 • 1969 American Convention on Human Rights 40 • 1981 African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. 41 The last three are included in this list because of the impact they have had in establishing regional customary law approaches to the human rights discourse. In addition to these general agreements, the international community has elaborated, interpreted or expanded on civil, political, cultural, economic, social and solidarity rights through specialised conventions. These ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
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