Quels sont les droits des Hommes ? (texte en anglais)

WHAT ARE HUMAN RIGHTS?

Definition

HUMAN RIGHTS ARE RIGHTS THAT EVERY HUMAN BEING HAS BY VIRTUE OF HIS

OR HER HUMAN DIGNITY

Human rights are the most fundamental rights of human beings. Theydefi ne relationships between individuals and power structures, especially the State. Human rights delimit State power and, at the same time, require States to take positive measures ensuring an environment that enables all people to enjoy their human rights. History in the last 250 years has been shaped by the struggle to create such an environment. Starting with the French and American revolutions in the late eighteenth century, the idea of human rights has driven many a revolutionary movement for empowerment and for control over the wielders of power, Governments in particular.

HUMAN RIGHTS ARE THE SUM OF INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE RIGHTS LAID DOWN

IN STATE CONSTITUTIONS AND INTERNATIONAL LAW

Governments and other duty bearers are under an obligation to respect, protect and fulfi l human rights, which form the basis for legal entitlements and remedies in case of non-fulfilment (see Chapter 2). In fact, the possibility to press claims and demand redress diff erentiatesnhuman rights from the precepts of ethical or religious value systems. From a legal standpoint, human rights can be defined as the sum of individual and collective rights recognized

by sovereign States and enshrined in their constitutions and in international law. Since the Second World War, the United Nations has played a leading role in defining and advancing human rights, which until then had developed mainly within the nation State. As a result, human rights have been codified in various international and regional treaties and instruments that have been ratified by most countries, and represent today the only universally recognized value system.

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Box 1

Examples of human rights:

freedoms, rights and prohibitions related to human rights

In the area of civil and political rights

• Right to life

• Freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment

• Freedom from slavery, servitude and forced labour

• Right to liberty and security of person

• Right of detained persons to be treated with humanity

• Freedom of movement

• Right to a fair trial

• Prohibition of retroactive criminal laws

• Right to recognition as a person before the law

• Right to privacy

• Freedom of thought, conscience and religion

• Freedom of opinion and expression

• Prohibition of propaganda for war and of incitement to national, racial or religious hatred

• Freedom of assembly

• Freedom of association

• Right to marry and found a family

• Right to take part in the conduct of public affairs, vote, be elected and have access to public office

• Right to equality before the law and non-discrimination

In the area of economic, social and cultural rights

• Right to work

• Right to just and favourable conditions of work

• Right to form and join trade unions

• Right to social security

• Protection of the family

• Right to an adequate standard of living, including adequate food, clothing and housing

• Right to health

• Right to education

In the area of collective rights

• Right of peoples to:

• Self-determination

• Development

• Free use of their wealth and natural resources

• Peace

• A healthy environment

• Other collective rights:

• Rights of national, ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities

• Rights of indigenous peoples

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HUMAN RIGHTS ARE MANIFOLD

Human rights cover all aspects of life. Their exercise enables women and men to shape and determine their own lives in liberty, equality and respect for human dignity. Human rights comprise civil and political rights, social, economic and cultural rights and the collective rights of peoples to self-determination, equality, development, peace and a clean environment.

Although it has been — and sometimes still is — argued that civil and political rights, also known as “fi rst generation rights”, are based on the concept of non-interference of the State in private affairs, whereas social, economic and cultural — or “second generation”— rights require the State to take positive action, it is today widely acknowledged

that, for human rights to become a reality, States and the international community must take steps to create the conditions and legal frameworks necessary for the exercise of human rights as a whole. Th e “generation” terminology harks back to language used during the cold war; nowadays, the emphasis is placed on the principles of universality, indivisibility and interdependence of all human rights.

The right to development

The right to development places the human person at the centre of the development process and recognizes that the human being should be the main participant and beneficiary of development. The 1986 UN Declaration on the Right to Development states that:

1. “… every human person and all peoples are entitled to participate in, contribute

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