Rights and Human Rights in Contemporary Times

RIGHTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN CONTEMPORARY
TIMES.
Rights as an idea has been talked about and debated since ages. However,
despite all kinds of disparities and variations, one definition which is still held
as valid is right being 'ones due'"or an entitlement. For example to vote is a
right and if you are entitled to that right, then you have the choice to exercise
that right. Now whether you exercise that right or not is your choice. So even
possessing the choice to exercise a right or not is a right in itself. Rights can
never be exercised or enjoyed in isolation. It is an exchange where the person
who holds right i.e. the right holder claims his right and that right is claimed
in relation with other people or surroundings. These people are obligated to
respect the rights of the right holder and are knowns as right-observers.
Hence for rights to be recognised and taken into account its necessary for the
right holder to be a member of the state or society. Thus rights may be
described as claims of individuals towards the fellow people, the legitimacy of
which is granted by the state. Moreover, citizens are also granted rights by
the state for being its member.
Now on the basis of the kind of relation between the right holder and
right observer, the rights are divided into following two types; negative rights
and positive rights. Negative rights are those rights which involves
obligations on the part of the right observer by conforming him to non
interference in the right holders matter. For instance right to property, right to
life etc. Thus the kind of obligation which negative rights bring up is negative
obligation. On the other hand, positive rights are those rights which involves
obligations on the part of the right observer( people or state) by conforming
him to assistance as duty so that the right holder enjoys a fuller life. For
instance, right to education, health, etc. This type of obligation which positive
rights bring with itself is positive obligation.
Apart from the above mentioned classification, there is another
classification done on the basis of moral and legal grounds, they are; legal
rights and moral rights. Legal rights are the one conferred by the state or
legal authorities upon the people. Thus the legitimacy is derived from the
state or the authorities itself. When violated, the legal right's violator can be
booked to charge. THe moral rights on the other hand do not have any legal
binding. They are based on traditions and the percieved notion of justice in a
society. However moral rights are vague as they are culture and tradition
influenced. Therefore what is thought of as a moral obligation by one is not
thought of as the same by other. Hence it might lead to contradictions. But it
in no way means that legal rights are superior to moral rights. The legal
rights infact are the product of the percieved notions of justice by a few
persons at power and hence are incorporated into the society as laws. Thus
both of these are relative concepts.
The concept of right has been debated in various theries. A few of
them are;
THE THEORY OF NATURAL RIGHTS:Hobbes and Locke are the main propounders of this theory. According to
Hobbes, before the inception of state or society there existed state of nature
wchich was a state of anarchy. However people possessed natural rights. The
people give up all of their natural rights in lieu of the protection they get from
the sovereign. However right to life is one right they dont give up. LOcke on
the other hand believes that man is born with freedom. Therefore he
possesses a natural right to his life and property.
UTILITARIAN THEORY OF RIGHTS:Utilitarian theory believes in greatest happiness of the greatest number.
Bentham believed that rights should be formulated taking into account the
utility factor, as in how many people are the benefactors. If its the maximum
number of people at the advantageous end, it doesnt give Bentham any
worry that a few people are suffering. Mill on the other hand believes that the
quantity of pleasure should not be the sole criteria of formulating rights.
Instead their quality should also be accounted for.
RAWLS THEORY OF RIGHTS:Rawls believes that rights should be based on the idea of justice attainable by
the social contract. He like Kant believes that men should be treated as ends
in themselves rather than means. The basic difference between utilitarians
and Rawls theory is that utilitarians aggregate interests of people, whereas
Rawls considers the individuality and distinction of people as important.
HUMAN RIGHTS IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES:Human rights has never been such an important issue as much as it is these
days.Ranging from colour based activism as in America, female rights
activism by the feminists, environmental issues concerning world, the
refugees, asylum seekers, people displaced in the garb of development,
etc....all these issues come under the purview of human rights. Thus the
concept of human rights has evolved over the years, diversifying and
broadening its range and scope. Post world war II, it was thought of as
imperative by the concerned nations to have human rights in a legalistic
view. Hence Universal Declaration of Human Rights was brought forth in
1948. This gave a new direction to the concept of human rights. Today
international norms have been formulated, by international organisations,

intergovernmental organisations, governments and corporations. Though UN
takes an active part in prserving human rights, however there are lots of
human rights viloation that take place within nations and when intervened by
human rights watchdogs are termed as internal matters. Therefore the
maintenane of percieved sovereignty also hinders in preservation of human
rights.

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RIGHTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN CONTEMPORARY

international norms have been formulated, by international organisations,

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