Human Rights

• Rights:
• The nature and development of concepts of human rights:

-          State sovereignty: when governments run their own affairs in their own way and are not answerable to any higher authority.

-          ‘Natural law’ doctrine: when governments are answerable to a higher authority: originally this was based on the need to follow religious thinking, now it is based on international human rights law.

-          Historic constitutional documents: Magna Carta, The English Bill of Rights, The US Bill of Rights, The Four Freedoms speech, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

-          Abolition of slavery: Article 4 of the Universal Declaration if Human Rights state: ‘No-one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and slave trading shall be prohibited in all their forms.’

-          Trade Unions: Article 23(4) of the Universal Declaration if Human Rights state: ‘Everyone has the rights to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his or her rights.’

-          Universal Suffrage: Article 21(3) of the Universal Declaration if Human Rights state: ‘’The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.’

-          Universal education: Article 26(1) of the Universal Declaration if Human Rights state: ‘Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all in the basis of merit.

-          Distinguish between moral, customary and legal rights:

-          Moral Rights: come from the principles f how a person is to behave as set out in religious beliefs. People who live without any religious beliefs derive their ideas about rights from their own conscience and thinking about how they are to behave in society.

-          Customary Rights: refer ti implicit understandings and are based on trust (rather than the formal legal system).

-          Legal Rights: are based on a legal system. They have evolved over the centuries as rulers have gradually, and usually grudgingly, agreed to recognise more and more of them.

-          Differences between domestic and international rights: The main differences comes (at least in Australia) from the methods of protection rather than the substance of the rights themselves.

• Identifying the types of international rights:

-          Individual human rights: These can be divided into: civil and political rights: economic, social and cultural rights: environmental and peace rights.

-          Civil and political rights: The oldest human rights are civil and political ones, such as the right to a fair trial or to take part in politics.

-          Economic, social and cultural rights: About a century ago, as European countries started to create welfare states, recognition was given to economic, social and cultural rights such as the right to work and to equal pay for equal work. By contrast, cultural rights represent one of the least developed areas in human rights. (p. 64-65)

-          Environmental rights: The most recent rights are the more general ones such as the rights to peace and a healthy environment. These rights require governments to work together to ensure their implementation.

The right to a healthy environment is a good example of the process where there is a gradual recognition of a new human right.

-          Peace Rights: The right to peace was set out in a non-binding UN General Assembly resolution on 12^th November 1984. It represents the primary condition for the preservation of human civilisation and the survival of humankind.

-          Collective right to self-determination: It imposes the idea that all countries have the right to self-determination.

• The recognition of human rights under Australian law: common and statue law, evolving human rights; including the possibility of a Bill of Rights, recognition and enforcement of rights:

-          Common law and statute law: The two legal foundations in Australia for the protection of human rights are the common law and statute law. Common law evolved to make up for the gaps in statute law adopted by parliament. Common law has not only protected human rights in Australia, but the protection of human rights has also aided the development of common law.

-          An Australian Bill of Rights? The Australian Constitution did not implement a Bill of Rights like the US, as they wanted to guarantee the rights of the states, rather than human rights. A national system of human rights would have also eroded the various pieces of state legislation that discriminated against non-Europeans in the colonies.

Attempts to create an Australia Bill of Rights have be carried out, but all failed.

·         Contemporary struggles for human rights, the changing understanding of human rights and the effectiveness of legal measures both domestically and internationally in addressing human rights issues:

- There are many examples of contemporary struggles for human rights. Such issues include: The right to work, Child sex tourism or the Death of Languages.