Human Rights Flashcards
Definition
“Human Rights are rights inherent to all human beings that we are all equally entitled to without discrimination.” –UN Office of the High Commissioner for HR
Types of HR
- Inalienable: Rights cannot be taken away
- Inherent: Rights are a permanent and essential
- Indivisible: Rights can’t be split up – all right belong to everyone
- Universal: Rights belong to everyone on earth
Abolition of Slavery in England
- 18th century England
- The attempt of abolish or get rid of the slave trade
- Sommersett Case:
- The case brought to attention that slavery was illegal under the Common Law of England
- Unfortunately though, this only abolished slavery in England and NOT the whole of Britain.
- Abolition of Slavery Act: Passed in 1843 and freeing all remaining slaves in the British Empire.
Abolition of Slavery in recent context
- The UN was created and they developed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which outlawed slavery.
- It is estimated that there are still 27 million enslaved worldwide, including issues that still exist in Australia.
Trade Unions and Labour Rights in early times
- Huge development of industry during the 18th and 19 centuries
- They needed to employ a large amount of workers in order to operate the machinery and just overall allow the factories to function.
- Working conditions and strikes started surfacing
Trade Unions and Labour Rights Australian recognition
- In 1881, trade unions where legalized in Australia
- In 1891, the Australian Labor Party started to advocate labor rights
- This lead to privileges for workers such as: long service leave, the 8 hour working day and maternity leave.
Universal Suffrage in the early times
- Suffragettes:
In the late 19th and early 20th century, a large campaign was formed in order to push for women’s rights to vote. This ranged from peaceful protest, hunger strikes and even to setting off bombs.
Universal Suffrage today
- Commonwealth Electoral Act of 1962 to allow everyone to vote in Australia
- UDHR, rights for citizens to take part in the government of their country through freely chosen representatives was established.
Peace Rights devleopment
- The right to live free from conflict, war and any form of oppression
- Declaration on the Right of Peoples to Peace:
Until 1984 there was a recognition that we needed world peace, but no actual right to peace. So the DROPP states that “All peoples of our planet have a sacred right to peace”
Universal Education early times
- Government:
With the rising popularity of churches leading the way with education, the government became involved - They began to fund church and public government schools
Universal Education now
UDHR
- Universal education is now considered important to increasing a country’s development in modern day society
- Article 26 states free and compulsory primary education is a must
Environmental Rights
-Yet to be fully developed in International law. It involves the right for humans to have a healthy, safe and adequate environment, but also includes the protection and preserving of it for future generations.
UN Climate Change Conference 2015, it is a yearly meeting on climate issues.
Self- Determination
- Nations/peoples have the right to freely male decision about their own nation and political status without interference from others
- It is a collective right
- Still current issues surrounding the self-determination of Indigenous Australians
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
- Civil and political rights
- Rights include; right to a fair trial, right to presumption of innocence, freedom of movement and restriction on slavery and torture
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
- Economic, social and cultural rights
- These include the right to work, right to standard of living, right to culture and right to education
State Sovereignty
- Once a state is recognized, it has the right to state sovereignty. Which allows for the countries decisions and choices to be independent and free from external interference.
- This protects countries from being controlled against their will by more powerful countries = preventing war.
The United Nations
- The largest international body governing HR
- It is the most powerful international organisation and the most enforceable
The UN General Assembly
A forum for discussing and voting on international issues