What are Human Rights, and why do we need them?
What do we understand by the term “right”? May we say that it is a demand that we rightly claim? We have the right to elect a president if it is guaranteed by our country’s constitution. To watch a film if we buy a ticket to the cinema. We have the prerogative to count on all this, provided that the other party has given appropriate promises or guarantees. Human rights are quite often not distinguished and confused with the rights of a citizen and an individual. However, these are higher-level claims with one difference: they are not dependent on promises or guarantees from the other party. They are a complex of freedoms and legal opportunities due to the existence of a person in society. Inseparable from the individual, they don’t depend on territory, nationality, skin colour, sex etc., and they belong to us by birthright.
This means you were born with these privileges and that you cannot lose them because they are connected to the very fact of your existence. There are times and situations when we may disagree about their definition, but there is no misunderstanding when we see them violated. Under certain circumstances, the effect of some of them, although not all, may be suspended or limited. For example, if someone is found guilty of a crime, he/she may be imprisoned. Human rights (or H.R.) are the object of international legal regulation and protection. In the UK, the tools for this are provided by the Human Rights Act, which helps to fight for the fundamental rights and freedoms that should be protected.
What rights do the Human Rights Act protect?
The Act helps us to ensure some fundamental rights and freedoms, among which are:
- the right to life
- the prohibition of torture and inhumane treatment
- protection against slavery and forced labour
- the right to liberty and freedom
- the right to a fair trial and no punishment without law
- respect for privacy, family life and the right to marry
- freedom of thought, religion and belief
- freedom of expression
- freedom of assembly and association
- protection from discrimination
The concept and benefit of human rights
As you can see, the concept of H.R. is based on two main values: human dignity and They can be understood as something that defines the basic norms necessary to live with a sense of dignity, and their universality follows from the fact that at least from this perspective, all people are equal. We do not have and cannot single out anyone here. Absolutely everyone has human rights: criminals, children, women and men, social workers, politicians, teachers, unemployed persons, refugees, and everyone without exception. In fact, to accept this concept, it is enough to accept these two beliefs or values, and hardly anyone would argue with this. This is why the idea of H.R. is supported by all world cultures, all civilized governments, and all major religions. It is almost universally recognized that the power of the state cannot be unlimited or arbitrary, it must be limited by the need to provide at least minimal conditions to all those under its jurisdiction so that they can live with a sense of human dignity.
The main benefit of the Human Rights Act is that our rights are protected by law, otherwise, they would always be at risk. The Act creates rules, order, standards and a system. Helps us to maintain a society where everybody has equal rights, and they will be protected by the law and public authorities if endangered or violated. This is how we can live in a society where we are all free: to love and marry who we choose, where our family life and personal privacy are protected, where we can apply for a job and cannot be denied such an opportunity based on our skin colour or orientation, we cannot be abused, tortured, forced to labour or forced to believe in God. This is how we ensure that everybody gets a fair go, and we do not gamble our rights on a slot machine in online casino to see if we are lucky enough to win. Our winning is ensured with strict rules and laws instead.