human rights

human rights
   Those entitlements which allow us the minimum necessary conditions for a proper existence. In other words, they enable us to develop as individuals and achieve our potential, irrespective of the class, ethnic background, nationality, religion or sex to which we belong. They are innate and cannot be bestowed, granted, limited or bartered away.
   The concept of human rights is an elusive one which is interpreted differently by different politicians and by different governments. Some place the emphasis on one set of rights, others stress the importance of different ones. Many writers would distinguish between legal rights – the liberties which the law allows us and which in democracies are recognised by the judicial machinery of the state (for example, freedom of assembly) – and moral or natural rights, sometimes described as inalienable or inviolable rights, entitlements which cannot or should not be removed for they derive from people’s common humanity. In the latter case, a person ought to be granted them because he or she has a morally compelling claim. As we have seen, legal rights derive from our membership of a particular society rather than from our status as human beings. They can be amended or removed by a change in the law. They can be subdivided into civil and political rights, and economic and social rights. Listings of basic rights are contentious, but two well known and widely accepted ones are the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights.
   See also: Human Rights Act

Glossary of UK Government and Politics . 2013.

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