GENERAL NATURE AND DEFINITION OF HUMAN

RIGHTS

HUMAN- is a member of the homosapiens, a man, woman, a child. A

person

RIGHTS- entitlement to have, to obtain something or to act in a certain

way.

HUMAN RIGHTS

 Entitlements that a human being has simply because he is human.

 Those rights, which are inherent in our nature as a human being
and it is considered as fundamental to our very existence, and
without which, we cannot live as human beings;
 Supreme, inherent, and inalienable rights to life, dignity, and self-
development.
 The essence of these rights makes man human
 They are guaranteed to everyone without distinction of any kind,
such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other
opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, or other status.
.

BASIC 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
 Cannot be given away or be forfeited
4. IMPRESCRIPTIBLE
 Cannot be lost even if man fails to use or assert them, even
by a long passage of time
5. INDIVISIBLE
 Not capable of being divided

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  Cannot be denied even when other rights have already been
enjoyed
6. UNIVERSAL
 Applies irrespective of one’s origin, status, or condition or
place where one lives
 Rights can be enforced without national border
7. INTERDEPENDENT
 The fulfillment or exercise of one cannot be had without the
realization of the other


HUMAN RIGHTS PRINCIPLES:

 The dignity of man and human life is inviolable. From the dignity of
man is derived the right of every person to free development of his
personality.
 A legitimate state should exist to assure that in the discharge of the
governmental functions, the dignity that is the birthright of every
human being is duly safeguarded.

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

ACCORDING TO RECIPIENT

1. INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS
 Accorded to individuals

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 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

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
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.

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
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

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 3. Third Generation Rights
 Covers collective 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:
i. It is provided for by law which is made known to every
citizen;
ii. There is a state of emergency which necessitates the
urgent preservation of the public good, public safety,
and public moral;
iii. It does not exceed what is strictly necessary to achieve
the purpose.

THREE GENERATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS

 This division of human rights into three generations was

introduced in 1979 by Czech jurist Karel Vasak.
 The three categories align with the three tenets of the French
Revolution: liberty, equality, and fraternity.

CIVIL-POLITICAL HUMAN RIGHTS include two subtypes:

 First-generation, “civil-political” rights deal with liberty and
participation in political life. They are strongly individualistic and
negatively constructed to protect the individual from the state.
 norms pertaining to physical and civil security (for example, no
torture, slavery, inhumane treatment, arbitrary arrest; equality
before the law) and
 norms pertaining to civil-political liberties or empowerments (for
example, freedom of thought, conscience, and religion; freedom of

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 assembly and voluntary association; political participation in one’s
society).

SOCIO-ECONOMIC HUMAN RIGHTS similarly include two subtypes:

 Second-generation, “socio-economic” human rights guarantee
equal conditions and treatment. They are not rights directly
possessed by individuals but constitute positive duties upon the
government to respect and fulfill them
 norms pertaining to the provision of goods meeting social needs
(for example, nutrition, shelter, health care, education) and
 norms pertaining to the provision of goods meeting economic
needs (for example, work and fair wages, an adequate living
standard, a social security net).

COLLECTIVE-DEVELOPMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS also include two

subtypes:
 “collective-developmental” rights of peoples and groups held
against their respective states aligns with the final tenet of
“fraternity.”
 the self-determination of peoples (for example, to their political
status and their economic, social, and cultural development) and
 certain special rights of ethnic and religious minorities (for
example, to the enjoyment of their own cultures, languages, and
religions).

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HISTORY, THEORIES OF SOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN
RIGHTS

HISTORY

 Human rights were asserted by the citizens against tyrannical

governments. They arose from the struggle of man against
injustices of despotic rulers.
 The struggle for the respect of human rights was originally a
domestic or national issue.
 The atrocities committed on masses of people during World War II
have convinced international jurists that the protection of human
rights should be an international concern.
o Respect for human rights mainly concerns individuals
without distinction as to nationality or citizenship.
o Violation of human rights are offenses without borders.

THEORIES OF SOURCES OF RIGHTS:

1. Religious/Theological Approach
o 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.
o The divine source gives human beings a high value of worth.
o The belief of a universal common creation means a common
humanity and consequently universal, basic and fundamental
rights. And since rights come from a divine source, they
are inalienable and cannot be denied by mortal beings.
o CRITICISM: Some religions impose so many restrictions on
individual freedom; some religions even tolerate slavery,
discrimination against women, and imposition of the death
penalty

2. NATURAL LAW THEORY

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 o Originated from the Stoics and elaborated by Greek
philosophers and later by ancient Roman law jurists.
o Perceives that the conduct of men must always conform to
the law of nature.
o Natural law embodies those elementary principles of
justice which were right reason, i.e., in accordance with
nature, unalterable, eternal.
o 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
o Became the basis of the natural rights of man against
oppressive rulers
o 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

3. POSITIVIST THEORY/LEGAL POSITIVISM

o All rights and authority come from the state and what officials
have promulgated.
o 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.
o A right is enjoyed only if it is recognized and protected by
legislation promulgated by the state.

4. HISTORICAL THEORY

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 o 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.
o Human rights exist through gradual, spontaneous and
evolutionary process without any arbitrary will of any
authority.

5. THEORY OF MARXISM
o Emphasizes the interest of society over an individual man’s
interest. Individual freedom is recognized only after the
interest of society is served.
o 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
o Human rights exist as a means of social control, to serve the
social interests of society.
o 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
o Seeks to define the notion of rights in terms of tendencies to
promote specified ends such as common good.
o Every human decision was motivated by some calculation of
pleasure and pain. The goal is to promote the greatest
happiness of the greatest number.
o Everyone is counted equally, but not treated equally.
o Requires the government to maximize the total net sum of
citizens.
o An individual cannot be more important than the entire
group. A man cannot simply live alone in disregard of his
impulse to society.

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 o The composite society of which the individual is a unit has on
its own wants, claims and demands. An act is good only when
it takes into consideration the interests of the society and
tends to augment the happiness of the entire community.

8. THEORY BASED ON DIGNITY OF MAN/POLICY SCIENCE

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

9. THEORIES OF JUSTICE
o Each person possesses inviolability founded on justice.
o The rights secured for justice are not subject to political
bargaining or to social interests.
o 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.
o 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
o 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.
o Governments must treat all their citizens equally. For this
purpose, the government must intervene in order to advance
general welfare.

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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 – Present Philippine Constitution

 From 1942 to 1944, the Filipinos were temporarily deprived of the

enjoyment of the civil and political rights during the military rule of
Japan. But these were immediately restored in 1945.
 The Filipinos were again subjected to violation of human rights
during the authoritarian rule of President Marcos, which was
terminated during the February 1986 revolution.

Human Rights Instruments to which The Philippines is a Signatory:

1. International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (7

June 1974)
2. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (23 October
1986)
3. Optional Protocol International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (22 August 1989)
4. International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination (15 September 1976)
5. International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of
the Crime of Apartheid (27 July 1987)
6. International Convention against Apartheid (27 July 1987)
7. International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (5 August 1981)
8. Convention on the Political Rights of Women (12 September 1957)
9. Convention on the Rights of the Child (21 August 1990)
10. Slavery Convention of 1926 (12 July 1955)

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11. Protocol Amending the Slavery Convention (17 November
1965)
12. Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the
Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices (17 November 1965)
13. Convention on the Suppression of the Trafficking of Persons
and the Exploitation of Others (19 September 1952)
14. Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman, or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment (18 June 1986)
15. The Convention on the Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for
Marriage and Registration of Marriage (21 January 1965)
16. International Convention on the Protection of All Migrant
Workers and Members of their Families (13 November 1993)
17. Convention on the Nationality of Married Women
18. Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons (22 June 1955)
19. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (22 July 1981)
20. Convention on the Prevention and the Punishment of the
Crime of Genocide (7 July 1950)
21. Convention on Non-applicability of Statutory Limitation on
War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity (15 May 1973)
22. Protocol Additional to the Geneva Convention of 12 August
1949, Relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International
Armed Conflicts (Protocol II) (11 July 1987)

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