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• HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN RIGHTS

  • The origins of human rights may be found both in Greek philosophy and the various world religions. In the Age of Enlightenment (18th century) the concept of human rights emerged as an explicit category.
  •   Man/woman came to be seen as an autonomous individual, endowed by nature with certain inalienable fundamental rights that could be invoked against a government and should be safeguarded by it.
  • Human rights were henceforth seen as elementary preconditions for an existence worthy of human dignity.
• • Before this period, several charters codifying rights and freedoms had been drawn up constituting important steps towards the idea of human rights.

  During the 6th Century, the Achaemenid Persian Empire of ancient Iran established unprecedented principles of human rights.

  Cyrus the Great (576 or 590 BC - 530 BC) issued the Cyrus cylinder which declared that citizens of the empire would be allowed to practice their religious beliefs freely and also abolished slavery.
• The next generation of human rights documents were the Magna Charta Libertatum of 1215, the Golden Bull of Hungary (1222), the Danish Erik Klipping’s Håndfaestning of 1282, the Joyeuse Entrée of 1356 in Brabant (Brussels), the Union of Utrecht of 1579 (The Netherlands) and the English Bill of Rights of 1689.
• • In the centuries after the Middle Ages, the concept of liberty became gradually separated from status and came to be seen not as a privilege but as a right of all human beings.
  • Spanish theologists and jurists played a prominent role in this context. Among the former, the work of Francisco de Vitoria (1486-1546) and Bartolomé de las Casas (1474-1566) should be highlighted. These two men laid the (doctrinal) foundation for the recognition of freedom and dignity of all humans by defending the personal rights of the indigenous peoples inhabiting the territories colonised by the Spanish Crown.
• The Enlightenment was decisive in the development of human rights concepts. The ideas of Hugo Grotius (1583-1645), one of the fathers of modern international law, of Samuel von Pufendorf (1632-1694), and of John Locke (1632-1704) attracted much interest in Europe in the 18th century.
• Locke, for instance, developed a comprehensive concept of natural rights; his list of rights consisting of life, liberty and property. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) elaborated the concept under which the sovereign derived his powers and the citizens their rights from a social contract. The term human rights appeared for the first time in the French Déclaration des Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen(1789).
• The people of the British colonies in North America took the human rights theories to heart. The American Declaration of Independence of 4 July 1776 was based on the assumption that all human beings are equal. It also referred to certain inalienable rights, such as the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
• These ideas were also reflected in the Bill of Rights which was promulgated by the state of Virginia in the same year. The provisions of the Declaration of Independence were adopted by other American states, but they also found their way into the Bill of Rights of the American Constitution. The French Déclaration des Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen of 1789, as well as the French Constitution of 1793, reflected the emerging international theory of universal rights. Both the American and French Declarations were intended as systematic enumerations of these rights.
• The classic rights of the 18th and 19th centuries related to the freedom of the individual. Even at that time, however, some people believed that citizens had a right to demand that the government endeavour to improve their living conditions.

   

   
• Taking into account the principle of equality as contained in the French Declaration of 1789, several constitutions drafted in Europe around 1800 contained classic rights, but also included articles which assigned responsibilities to the government in the fields of employment, welfare, public health, and education. Social rights of this kind were also expressly included in the Mexican Constitution of 1917, the Constitution of the Soviet Union of 1918 and the German Constitution of 1919.
• In the 19th century, there were frequent inter-state disputes relating to the protection of the rights of minorities in Europe. These conflicts led to several humanitarian interventions and calls for international protection arrangements. One of the first such arrangements was the Treaty of Berlin of 1878, which accorded special legal status to some religious groups. It also served as a model for the Minorities System that was subsequently established within the League of Nations.
• The need for international standards on human rights was first felt at the end of the 19th century, when the industrial countries began to introduce labour legislation. This legislation - which raised the cost of labour - had the effect of worsening their competitive position in relation to countries that had no labour laws.
• Economic necessity forced the states to consult each other. It was as a result of this that the first conventions were formulated in which states committed themselves vis-à-vis other states in regard to their own citizens. The Bern Convention of 1906 prohibiting night-shift work by women can be seen as the first multilateral convention meant to safeguard social rights.
• Many more labour conventions were later to be drawn up by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), founded in 1919.

  Remarkable as it may seem, therefore, while the classic human rights had been acknowledged long before social rights, the latter were first embodied in international regulations.
• The atrocities of World War II put an end to the traditional view that states have full liberty to decide the treatment of their own citizens. The signing of the Charter of the United Nations (UN) on 26 June 1945 brought human rights within the sphere of international law. In particular, all UN members agreed to take measures to protect human rights.
• The Charter contains a number of articles specifically referring to human rights. Less than two years later, the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR), established early in 1946, submitted a draft Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) to the UN General Assembly (UNGA). The Assembly adopted the Declaration in Paris on 10 December 1948. This day was later designated Human Rights Day.
• During the 1950s and 1960s, more and more countries joined the UN. Upon joining they formally accepted the obligations contained in the UN Charter, and in doing so subscribed to the principles and ideals laid down in the UDHR. This commitment was made explicit in the Proclamation of Teheran (1968), which was adopted during the first World Conference on Human Rights, and repeated in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, which was adopted during the second World Conference on Human Rights (1993).
• Since the 1950s, the UDHR has been backed up by a large number of international conventions. The most significant of these conventions are the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
• These two Covenants together with the UDHR form the International Bill of Human Rights. At the same time, many supervisory mechanisms have been created, including those responsible for monitoring compliance with the two Covenants.
• Human rights have also been receiving more and more attention at the regional level. In the European, the Inter-American and the African context, standards and supervisory mechanisms have been developed that have already had a significant impact on human rights compliance in the respective continents, and promise to contribute to compliance in the future.
• THEORIES AND SOURCES OF RIGHTS

  1. Religious/Theological Approach

  • A basis of human rights theory stemming from a law higher than the state and whose source is the Supreme Being.

    * Human rights are not concessions granted by human institutions or states, or any international organization as they are God-given rights. o Central to the doctrines of all religions is the concept of dignity of man as a consequence of human rights.

  The divine source gives human beings a high value of worth.
• 2. Natural Law Theory

  • Originated from the Stoics and elaborated by Greek philosophers and later by ancient Roman law jurists.
  • Perceives that the conduct of men must always conform to the law of nature.
  • Natural law embodies those elementary principles of justice which were right reason, i.e., in accordance with nature, unalterable, eternal.
  • Became the basis of the natural rights of man against oppressive rulers.
  • Nuremberg Trials – rationale for finding the Nazis guilty: the crimes committed were offenses against humanity and there is no need of a law penalizing the acts
• Philosophers:

  • Thomas Aquinas – considered natural law as the law of right reason in accordance with the law of God, commonly known as the scholastic natural law
  • Hugo Grotius – the natural characteristics of human beings are the social impulse to live peacefully and in harmony with others whatever conformed to the nature of men as natural human beings was right and just; whatever is disturbing to social harmony is wrong and unjust
  • John Locke – envisioned human beings in a state of nature, where they enjoyed life, liberty and property which are deemed natural rights
• 3. Positivist Theory/Legal Positivism

  • All rights and authority come from the state and what officials have promulgated.
  • The only law is what is commanded by the sovereign. o The source of human rights is to be found only in the enactment of a law with sanctions attached.
  • A right is enjoyed only if it is recognized and protected by legislation promulgated by the state.
• 4. Historical Theory

  • Advocates that human rights are not deliberate creation or the effort of man but they have already existed through the common consciousness of the people of what is right and just.
  • Human rights exist through gradual, spontaneous and evolutionary process without any arbitrary will of any authority.
• 5. Theory of Marxism

  • Emphasizes the interest of society over an individual man’s interest. Individual freedom is recognized only after the interest of society is served.
  • Concerned with economic and social rights over civil or political rights of community. o Referred to as “parental” with the political body providing the guidance in value choice. But the true choice is the government set by the state
• 6. Functional/Sociological Approach

  • Human rights exist as a means of social control, to serve the social interests of society.
  • Lays emphasis of obtaining a just equilibrium of multifarious interests among prevailing moral sentiments and the social and economic conditions of the time and place.
• 7. Utilitarian Theory

  • Seeks to define the notion of rights in terms of tendencies to promote specified ends such as common good.
  • Every human decision was motivated by some calculation of pleasure and pain. The goal is to promote the greatest happiness of the greatest number.
  • Everyone is counted equally, but not treated equally. Requires the government to maximize the total net sum of citizens.
  • An individual cannot be more important than the entire group. A man cannot simply live alone in disregard of his impulse to society.
• 8. Theory Based on Dignity of Man/Policy Science Approach

  • Human rights means sharing values of all identified policies upon which human rights depend on.
  • The most important values are respect, power, knowledge, health, and security.
  • The ultimate goal of this theory is a world community where there is democratic sharing and distribution of values.
  • All available resources are utilized to the maximum and the protection of human dignity is recognized.
• 9. Theories of Justice

  • Each person possesses inviolability founded on justice.
  • The rights secured for justice are not subject to political bargaining or to social interests.
  • Each person has equal rights to the whole system of liberties. There is no justice in a community where there are social and economic inequalities.
  • The general conception of justice is one of fairness and those social primary goods such as opportunity, income and wealth and self-respect are to be distributed equally.
• 10. Theory Based on Equality and Respect of Human Dignity

  • The recognition of individual rights in the enjoyment of the basic freedoms such as freedom of speech, religion, assembly, fair trial and access to courts.
  • Governments must treat all their citizens equally. For this purpose, the government must intervene in order to advance general welfare.
• Origin of Human Rights in the Philippines

  20 June 1899 – Malolos Constitution: contained several provisions on civil and political rights

  1902 – Philippine Bill of 1902

  1916 – Philippine Autonomy Act of 1916/Jones Law

  1934 – Philippine Independence Act of 1934/Tydings-McDuffee Law

  1935 – First Philippine Constitution: contained Bill of Rights

  1973 – Second Philippine Constitution

  1983 – Third Philippine Constitution

  1987- Present Constitution