UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS.   Term Paper ID:20986 Click to get this paper

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Paper Abstract: United Nations 1948 non-binding agreement promoting moral & humane treatment. Theory & practice of positive, natural & political rights. Paper Introduction: The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights embodies a conception of human rights that can be ascertained and compared to other approaches in the literature on the subject of human rights. These differing conceptions of what human rights are and how they can or cannot be protected. How some theorists might change the UN Declaration in keeping with their particular view of human rights will be considered as well. THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is an example of quasi-legislation by non-binding instrument, something the United Nations has created for a number of different purposes. The Declaration was created in 1948. The fact that the United Nations would make a declaration on the issue of human rights is in keeping with the structure and genesis of the entire Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. The words cited above in Articles55 and 56 show that each member state is expected to have the obligation totake separate action to promote human rights around the world: These are clear words of obligation, and it is therefore now beyond dispute that every state which is a member of the UN. To have a right means consequences, the imposition of a mode ofconduct, and obligation, on others as well as on ourselves. It has been difficult to detect manymaterial improvements resulting from these diplomatic moves, but theseagreements have provided the basis for the renewed concern in the 197 s and198 s over the promotion of human rights, both by some governments and by amultitude of private organizations. Natural law is entitled to the name law because it is authoritative, something which can be obeyed or disobeyed (Cranston 2 ). A different view is offered byRonald Dworkin, who sees rights in terms of situation rather than in termsof some basic level that is to be protected: . Thesediffering conceptions of what human rights are and how they can or cannotbe protected. The UN undertook the task of such adefinition with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. is bound by these two Articles of its Charter, as a matter of international law, to respect and observe human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion (Sieghart 63). While these accords have been ratified by therequisite number of countries and have sometimes provided detailedmachinery for implementation, they have often remained dead letters with nopower: The development of a new majority of nondemocratic states, the desire of governments to protect themselves from accusations of repression, the cynical employment of such issues for political advantage, and selectivity to the point of absurdity in application, have all vitiated these accords (Laqueur and Rubin 195).The various treaties have managed to set forth detailed definitions ofpolitical and economic rights, and along with the Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights, there have been special statements on genocide, the rights ofwomen, and racial discrimination. That too is not a legal question, but a moral one (Thomson 2).Some rights are prior to law, and in a sense some rights are such that alegal system would be defective if it did not assign them to those governedby it. New York: New American Library, 199 .Shue, Henry. There are some rights, she states, that wehave solely because our legal system assigns them to us. In another sense, the secondary rights in the latter half of thedocument are things which might be important to create a population capableof securing its own human and property rights--education, for instance, canbe seen as prerequisite for an informed and capable populace. In that state,there are no rights and no responsibilities, and everyone does as theyplease. Yet, it still is evident that the Universal Declaration is a documentthat attempts to expand the concept of rights beyond the basic rightsgenerally accepted as such. Thomson points out that every right is a right to something. Suchconsequences and obligations are moral in nature: Having a right is having a valuable moral status precisely because it has these consequences, and asserting the right is demanding that people act as these consequences say they ought to act (Thomson 2). As Thomson points out, not unlike Dworkin, wehave rights at all because we have a political structure, even if we seethose rights as inalienable and as existing in spite of rather than becauseof our political structure. Moreover, the right to liberty presumably also includes rights to noninterference with the doing of some of these things (Thomson 37-38).Thomson says that the right to property is even more complex: The person who has a right to property presumably has rights to each of the particular things he or she in fact owns, such as chairs and tables and shoes; and ownership is presumably itself a complex of rights, arguably a different complex for each thing owned (Thomson 38). Maurice Cranston notes how the idea of human rights developed,noting that the term "human rights" is a twentieth century term for whatwas once called natural rights or the Rights of Man by theorists such asLocke and Hume. Human Rights Reader. Some of the rightsupheld by the Universal Declaration are also cited as rights by Thomson,such as the rights to life, liberty, and property which we all assume wehave. These are the "traditional" human rights, as they are called,because they are part of a long tradition in which people have both claimedand fought for such rights. The Declaration was created in1948. He finds that outside a written constitution, inthe actual practice within individual states, the "historic natural rightsare positive rights in only a small number of countries" (Cranston 29).Enforcement is the missing factor ignored by positivists. New York: Syracuse University Press, 197 .Cranston, Maurice. "The History of the Idea of Human Rights." In Walter Laqueur and Barry Rubin. Therefore, if a right is basic, other, non-basic rights may be sacrificed, if necessary, in order to secure the basic right (Shue 19).It is conceivable, then, that the basic rights embodied in the earlyArticles of the Universal Declaration could come into conflict with the"ideals" or non-basic rights set forth in later Articles. How some theorists might change the UN Declaration inkeeping with their particular view of human rights will be considered aswell. The first 2 Articlesinvolve rights, while the remainder address utopian ideals. Forty-eight voted in favor, while eight abstained.The Declaration has ever since stood as the first complete and detailedcatalogue of human rights and fundamental freedoms to be recognized andsolemnly declared by the international community. . On grounds such as these, it is therefore now strongly arguable that the Universal Declaration is becoming, if it has not already become, part of customary international law, and so binding on all states, regardless of any treaty obligations (Sieghart 64).In 1968 a conference held by the United Nations in Tehran to review theprogress of the previous two decades stated in a Proclamation adopted atthe end of the conference that the Universal Declaration was an obligationfor the members of the international community. Other international agreements on human rights were passed after thecreation of the Declaration. Basic Rights. . Just as Thomson made a distinction between rights that onehas because one is a human being and legal rights conferred by the state,so does Cranston note a difficulty in ascertaining how far the nominal"legal rights" specified in the written laws of different states are to beseen as positive rights. New York: New American Library, 199 .Minogue, Kenneth. At the same time, though, this calls into question the wisdom ofincluding the political rights, the rights being created by the document,in the Universal Declaration, rights such as an education and othergovernmental provisions. . Rights are also therealm of morality in that morality as well seems to develop because ofagreement in a social setting rather than as a naturally imposedobligation. There are differences in theway each identifies what is basic and even in specifically what theyidentify as basic and what non-basic. Thesesecondary rights are therefore supports for the primary rights, though nodistinction is made in the document between the two. RIGHTS POSITIVE AND NATURAL The combination offered by Thomson links rights and obligations tomorality. Thomson'sinterest in the matter, however, derives from the more probing question ofhow and why government action can make a person have or not have a right,and this she says is a moral and not a legal question. Yet, in a document like the Universal Declaration, positivistassertions are made for natural rights, offering moral statements requiringthat natural rights be upheld. The Realm of Rights. RIGHTS NATURAL AND POLITICAL The emphasis given to rights by the other theorists discussed is moregeneral and seeks a broad conception of rights to demonstrate what rightsare basic and what rights are derived from political institutions alone.The Universal Declaration embodies both types of rights, both naturalrights and rights conferred by agreement, by political action, by politicalinstitution. The Declaration of Human Rights that followed and thatmade an even more direct statement of the importance of human rights. . THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is an example of quasi-legislation by non-binding instrument, something the United Nations hascreated for a number of different purposes. The UniversalDeclaration is not a treaty, and it is described in its Preamble as acommon standard of achievement for all nations. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 198 .Sieghart, Paul. That theory makes rights relative in only one way (Dworkin 37 ). . The UN Charter several times used the Dumbarton Oaks phraseabout promoting respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, alwaysadding to it the fact that this would be for everyone, without distinctionas to race, sex, language, or religion. Kenneth Minogue also cites Hume asholding that the solution to the problems of living in the state of naturewas society itself and that this is one fact separating human being fromanimals: Men can cooperate more effectively and intelligently than the animals. All the theorists discussed would agree that whatever human rightsare, they are something prized and valued and something which must be seenas basic in the way Shue describes that term. Henry Shue states that a right provides the rational basis for ajustified demand: If a person has a particular right, the demand that the enjoyment of the substance of the right be socially guaranteed is justified by good reasons, and the guarantees out, therefore, to be provided (Shue 13).Cranston would agree with this in terms of rights, not in terms of ideals.Shue identifies what he calls basic rights, or those that are everyone'sminimum reasonable demands upon the rest of humanity: When a right is genuinely basic, any attempt to enjoy any other right by sacrificing the basic right would be quite literally self-defeating, cutting the ground from beneath itself. Such a distinction ismade by theorists addressing the general question of human rights and howthey are formed and identified, but in this practical document thedistinction is not made. At the time,the UN had 56 members. The link between the Charter andthe Universal Declaration has been recognized by the International Court ofJustice (Sieghart 63-65). Hobbes sees us as different from the people in the State of naturebecause we have determined that it is in our best interests to come to anaccommodation with other human beings. Much of the history of the discussion of rights as described byCranston shows that there has been a battle between supporters of naturalrights and supporters of positive rights, as if the two had to be mutuallyexclusive. There are 3 Articles inthe Declaration. in the 198 s there were efforts toexpand the definition of human rights so that it would cover more groupsand areas of life, and among these were rights to peace and economicdevelopment, a codification of rights for women, children, and handicappedpeople along with additional conventions against torture and religiousdiscrimination (Laqueur and Rubin 195). Theright to liberty may seem more abstract than the rights to life andproperty, but it places obligations on ourselves and others in the samemanner: To have a right to liberty is presumably to have, among other rights, a right to do such and such if one wishes, a right to do so and so if one wishes, and so on--though there are no doubt limits on the such and such and so and so which having a right to liberty is having a right to do. In 1944 theyhad proposed at Dumbarton Oaks that they would establish a United NationsOrganization which would promote respect for human rights and fundamentalfreedoms. The next 26 Articlesenumerate and describe the rights and freedoms concerned, with no rankingin any order of priority and with no divisions into categories such ascivil, political, economic, social, or cultural. Article 2 says that everyone isentitled to the rights set forth in the document. notably the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 onthe treatment of certain groups of people in times of armed conflict and inthe statement of a wide range of rights adopted in the two Covenants of theUN General Assembly in 1966, one on Civil and Political Rights and theother on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The Charter, however, does not define what are the human rights andfundamental freedoms to be protected. . Three years before the passage of the Declaration,the Charter for the United Nations was written, and in Article 56 it isstated that all Members pledge themselves to take joint and separate action in cooperation with the Organization for the achievement of the purposes set forth in Article 55 (Carey 12).Article 55 in turn provides that the United Nations shall promote universal respect for, and observation of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion (Carey 13).The United Nations Charter is seen as the document that originally gavehuman rights their international recognition. For Cranston,this reduces the power of the Universal Declaration: What vitiates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is precisely that it does not distinguish between rights and ideals, or, rather, that it attempts to be a statement of both at the same time. He is interested only inthe issue of rights in certain specific areas in his discussion, and hestates: My aim is to develop a theory of rights that is relative to the other elements of a political theory, and to explore how far that theory might be constructed from the exceedingly abstract (but far from empty) idea that government must treat people as equals. Thisreminds us that the Declaration is not a legally binding instrument and wasnot written to be one, though it has gained the force of law throughvarious agreements and decisions since. Among the institutions outlawed are slavery, torture, and arbitrary detention (Cranston 33).Cranston says that rights of another kind are then offered, beginning withArticle 21 which states that "everyone has the right to take part in thegovernment of his country." Other articles affirm the universal right toeducation, to form trade unions, to have equal pay for equal work, and to astandard of living adequate for the health and well-being of the individualand his family (Cranston 32-34). HUMAN RIGHTS Different theorists have offered their own particular view of humanrights, of their genesis, their importance, and their universality. Economic, social, and cultural rights asembodied in the document include the right to food, housing, health care,and an education. The Declaration concludeswith an Article on duties and limitations, and one on abuse. References to God and nature were eliminated, making thisa secular statement of rights. Dworkin does not reject this view. Article 1 says that all human beings areborn equal and free in dignity and rights. the rights people have depend on the background justification and political institutions that are also in play, because the argument for any particular right must recognize that right as part of a complex package of other assumptions and practices that it trumps (Dworkin 369).Dworkin notes objections raised to this view, notably that there are somerights that are basic and that do not depend on the institutions of a statefor their existence--perhaps for their protection, but not for theirexistence. Natural law is not written down and carries no specific sanctions . The essential rights are stated; and in the preamble there is one sentence which reveals a true understanding of what is meant by a human right: "Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law. The UN Charter alsocontains a "pledge" for all member states to take action to achieve humanrights and fundamental freedoms, and the catalogue of rights is nowembodied in the Universal Declaration. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights promotes both basic rightsand non-basic rights or ideals which are seen as important in today'sworld. . Works CitedCarey, UN Protection of Civil and Political Rights. It was adopted in 1945 and was astatement by the allies victorious in World War II that there was to be anew world order, especially in the area of international law. But society in turn brings a new threat, for unlike most other species, men need protection also against other men. There are somerights that we have not because they are assigned to us by our legalsystem, for we would have these rights even if there were no legal systemto assign them to us at all: For our purposes, the interesting question such examples raise is not what is the content of our criminal law, but what it is about us that makes us have rights that we would not have even if the law did not assign them to us. The establishment of these rights had the effect oftelling governments that they have a responsibility to make certain thattheir citizens lead a good life, and these rights only gained widerecognition as "basic human rights" when they were declared so in theUniversal Declaration (Totten and Kleg 38). Human Rights Reader, 3-16. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1985.Laqueur, Walter and Barry Rubin. It is a document withgreat moral authority, which indeed is its primary reason for existing.However, though the document was not intended to impose legally bindingobligations, it has served as the model for other agreements that do,notably some 25 new national constitutions which refer to the Declaration.Indeed, the various states have accepted the existence of the Declarationand its precepts with little challenge: Whatever their actual performance, sovereign states are never heard to denounce it in public: on the contrary, they constantly quote it with approval--especially when it suits their interests to accuse some other state of violating it. These were slow to beratified, but more quickly ratified was the more specialized Convention onthe Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination approved by theGeneral Assembly in 1965 and effective three years later and the Conventionon the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide approved by theGeneral Assembly in 1948 and in force since 1951 (Carey 9-1 ). The many international agreements formulated since 1945 toinstitutionalize and guarantee human rights have often come from the UnitedNations and its constituent bodies, and some have resulted from the actionsof regional groups. The way the Declaration was written and arguedby the participants in its drafting shows that political influence wasbeing used to make changes as the draft was developed, from removingreferences to God so as to make the document more secular to includingcertain ideals as concepts that the participants wished to promote. New York: Basic Books, 1962.Dworkin, Ronald. The political and civil rights indicated in the Universal Declarationincluded the right to life, liberty, and the freedom of expression, all setforth to ensure that a government would treat its citizens in a fair andjust manner. TheUniversal Declaration becomes, then, a statement of principle, a statementof the ideal to which the member states are expected to direct theirenergies. [and] from early modern times the idea began to develop that, in addition to eyes and ears and all the other normal equipment, human being also possess invisible things called "rights" that morally protect them from the aggression of their fellow men, and especially from the power of the governments under which they live (Minogue 3).In this sense, all our rights are political because we have createdobligations and responsibilities through agreement. The Lawful Rights of Mankind. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985.Thomson, Judith Jarvis. Cranston notes that in the early articlesof the Universal Declaration, the language is the language of the oldnatural rights tradition: The rights to life, liberty, property, equality, justice, and the pursuit of happiness are spelled out in twenty articles, which name, among other things, the right to freedom of movement; the right to own property alone as well as in association with others; the right to marry; the right to equality before the law and to a fair trial if accused of any crime; the right to privacy; the right to religious freedom; the right to free speech and peaceful assembly; the right to asylum. This is in keeping with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, orat any rate with the effect of it--it imposed obligations for conduct onmember states for the protection of human rights. . The UN Charter was the first multilateral treaty to deal with thewhole broad spectrum of human rights. The fact that the United Nations would make a declaration on theissue of human rights is in keeping with the structure and genesis of theentire organization. JudithJarvis Thomson approaches the issue of rights as a moral problem ratherthan a legal one, though she notes that our law is rich in declarations ofwho has rights in what areas. ." (Cranston 41-42). Positive lawdiffers from natural law in that it is codified: Positive law is a collection of specific enactments, with definite sanctions attached to many. . Cranston makes a clear distinction between rights and ideals andfinds that for many people, the term "rights" is used to represent ideals.This occurs when one pushes human rights out of the realm of the morallycompelling and into the world of utopian aspiration. What Are Human Rights? Theuse of the term "rights" for such ideals is evidently intended to elevatethese ideals to a higher realm, a realm of obligation and entitlement. A Matter of Principle. Thomson notes this when she states that law is not anecessary condition for having claims on one another: There are claims that we in our world are assigned by law but that we would have even if there had been no law to assign them to us (Thomson 214).Presumably, these are the rights that Cranston sees as basic and that areembodied in the first 2 Articles of the Universal Declaration. This was a revolution thatwas far-reaching. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 199 .----------------------- 9 The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights embodies aconception of human rights that can be ascertained and compared to otherapproaches in the literature on the subject of human rights. Thomson compares the present situation and ourviews with the state of nature as described by Hobbes. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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