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• Human rights refers to norms that aim to protect people from political, legal, and social abuses.
• Human rights are commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being.
• Human rights allow a person to live with dignity and in peace, away from the abuses that can be inflicted by abusive institutions or individuals.
• United Nations (UN) defines human rights as universal and inalienable, interdependent and indivisible, and equal and non-discriminatory.
• Characteristics of Human Rights

  1. Inherent

  • Not granted by any person or authority

  2. Fundamental

  • Without them, the life and dignity of man will be meaningless

  3. Inalienable

  • Cannot be rightfully taken away from a free individual unless specific situations call for it. However, the deprivation of a person's right is subject to due process.
  • Cannot be given away or be forfeited
• Characteristics of Human Rights

  4. Universal

  • Applies irrespective of one’s origin, status, or condition or place where one lives
  • Rights can be enforced without national border

  5. Imprescriptible

  • Cannot be lost even if man fails to use or assert them, even by a long passage of time

  6. Indivisible

  Not capable of being divided

  Cannot be denied even when other rights have already been enjoyed
• Characteristics of Human Rights

  7. Equal and non-discriminatory

  • Human rights protect all people regardless of race, nationality, gender, religion, and political leaning, among others. They should be respected without prejudice.

  8. Interdependent

  The fulfillment or exercise of one cannot be had without the realization of the other
• Classification of Rights According to Source

  1. Natural Rights

  • God-given rights, acknowledged by everybody to be morally good

  Unwritten, but prevail as norms of the society

  2. Constitutional Rights

  • Conferred and protected by the Constitution and which cannot be modified or taken away by the law-making body

  3. Statutory Rights

  • Those rights which are provided by law promulgated by the law-making body
  • May be abolished by the body that created them
• Classification of Rights According to Recipient

  1. Individual Rights

  • Accorded to individuals

  2. Collective Rights

  • Also called “people’s rights” or “solidarity rights”
  • Rights of the society, those that can be enjoyed only in company with others
• Classification of Rights According to Aspect of Life

  1. Civil Rights

  Rights which the law will enforce at the instance of private individuals for the purpose of securing to them the enjoyment of their means of happiness

  • Partake of the nature of political rights when they are utilized as a means to participate in the government.

  2. Political Rights

  • Rights which enable us to participate in running the affairs of the government either directly or indirectly
• Classification of Rights According to Aspect of Life

  3. Economic and Social Rights

  • Those which the law confers upon the people to enable them to achieve social and economic development

  4. Cultural Rights

  • Rights that ensure the well-being of the individual and foster the preservation, enrichment, and dynamic evolution of national culture based on the principle of unity in diversity in a climate of free artistic and intellectual expression.
• Classification of Rights According to Struggle for Recognition

  1. First Generation Rights

  • Civil and political rights which derives primarily from the 17th and 18th centuries’ reformist theories.
  • Conceives of human rights more in negative (“freedom from”) than positive (“rights to”) terms.
  • Favors the abstention rather the intervention of government in the exercise of freedoms and in the quest for human dignity
• Classification of Rights According to Struggle for Recognition

  2. Second Generation Rights

  • Covers economic, social, and cultural rights which find their origin primarily in the socialist tradition.
  • Conceives of human rights more in positive terms.
  • Fundamental claims to social equality
• Classification of Rights According to Struggle for Recognition

  3. Third Generation Rights

  • Third generation or ‘solidarity rights’ cover group and collective rights, which include, inter alia, the right to development, the right to peace, right to a clean environment and the right to self determination.
  • Freedom of association and assembly, freedom of religion and, more especially, the freedom to form or join a trade union, fall into this category.
• Classification of Rights According to Derogability

  1. Absolute or Non-Derogable Rights

  • Those that cannot be suspended nor taken away nor restricted/limited even in extreme emergency and even if the government invokes national security

  2. Derogable or Can-Be-Limited Rights

  • May be suspended or restricted or limited depending on the circumstances which call for the preservation of social life.
  • Must satisfy three requirements for it to be valid
• Classification of Rights According to Derogability

  1. It is provided for by law which is made known to every citizen;

  2. There is a state of emergency which necessitates the urgent preservation of the public good, public safety, and public moral;

  3. It does not exceed what is strictly necessary to achieve the purpose.
• Categories of Human Rights

  1. Fundamental Freedom in Political Rights

  • Freedom of conscience and religion
  • Freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression
  • Freedom of the press and communication
  • Freedom of association, freedom of peaceful assembly
  • Rights to privacy, reputation, and human dignity

  2. Democratic Rights

  Commonly exercised in a democratic state

    a. Right to vote and to participate in the electoral process

    b. Right to participate in public or governmental affairs
• Categories of Human Rights

  3. Mobility Rights

  • National and international in character

    a. Right to travel

    b. Right to return to one’s country

    c. Freedom of movement within the country

  4. Right to Life, Liberty, and Security of the Person

  Represent the core of fundamental rights which relate to the right to physical and personal integrity, consistent with human dignity

    Ex: Right to protection against political and other extrajudicial killings, the disappearances of persons, and torture and other cruel inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
• Categories of Human Rights

  5. Legal Rights

  • Constitute due process that can be invoked by persons accused.

    a. Freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention

    b. Protection against unreasonable search and seizure

    c. Right to counsel

    d. Right to fair and public trial

    e. Presumption of innocence

    f. Right against self-incrimination
• Categories of Human Rights

  6. Rights of Equality

  • Also known as the right against discrimination
  • Everyone is equal before the law and is entitled to equal protection or the equal benefit of the law
  • Protection against discrimination on the grounds of sex, race, religion, ethnic origin, age, marital status, and political and social condition
• Categories of Human Rights

  7. Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

  • Considered more of standards to be observed by the state

    a. Right to social security, social insurance, protection and assistance to the family

    b. Right to an adequate standard of living, adequate food, clothing and housing

    c. Right to physical and mental health

    d. Right to education

    e. Right to be part of the artistic and scientific life of the country
• Categories of Human Rights

  8. Workers’ Rights

    a. Right to association

    b. Right to organize unions

    c. Right to bargain collectively

    d. Prohibition of forced labor

    e. Prohibition of employment of children

    f. Guarantee of minimum wages and other support

  9. Aboriginal Rights

  Associated with the rights of indigenous cultural tribes or communities
• Categories of Human Rights

  10. Reproductive Rights

  • Right to found a family and bear children

    a. Right to gender sensitivity and the biomedical technology

    b. Right to family planning

  11. Protective Rights of Persons in Armed Conflicts

  • Provided in the international humanitarian law for the protection of children, women and non-combatants during internal armed conflicts
• Categories of Human Rights

  12. Right of Self-determination

  •   Right of people to be free from colonial rule

    a.  Right of people to decide their own destiny

  13. Minority Group Rights

  • Protection of ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities