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Baraka_Guru · 06-23-2007, 09:50 PM

Excerpts from The International Bill of Human Rights
from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (United Nations):

Quote:

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

[...] the right to liberty and equality is man's birthright and cannot be alienated: and that, because man is a rational and moral being, he is different from other creatures on earth and therefore entitled to certain rights and freedoms which other creatures do not enjoy.

[...] [It] forbids "distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status".

[...] [It] proclaims the right to life, liberty and security of person -a right essential to the enjoyment of all other rights. [...] including:

freedom from slavery and servitude;
freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law;
the right to an effective judicial remedy;
freedom from arbitrary arrest, detention or exile;
the right to a fair trial and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal;
the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty;
freedom from arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home or correspondence;
freedom of movement and residence;
the right of asylum;
the right to a nationality;
the right to marry and to found a family;
the right to own property;
freedom of thought, conscience and religion;
freedom of opinion and expression;
the right to peaceful assembly and association; and the right to take part in the government of one's country and to equal access to public service in one's country.

[In regards to] economic, social and cultural rights [...] everyone is entitled "as a member of society" [characterized as] indispensable for human dignity and the free development of personality, and indicates that they are to be realized "through national effort and international cooperation".

The economic, social and cultural rights recognized [...] include:

the right to social security;
the right to work;
the right to equal pay for equal work;
the right to rest and leisure;
the right to a standard of living adequate for health and well-being;
the right to education;
and the right to participate in the cultural life of the community.

[...] everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the human rights and fundamental freedoms set forth in the Declaration may be fully realized, and stress the duties and responsibilities which each individual owes to his community. [It] states that "in the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society". It adds that in no case may human rights and fundamental freedoms be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations. [...] no State, group or person may claim any right, under the Declaration, "to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth" in the Declaration.

I agree that the word right is often misapplied. Anything beyond these established rights might be getting too specific and could possibly infringe on them. I think the key, here, is the last section above. It aims to prevent "the destruction" of these rights. (i.e. you don't have the right to get in the way of other's specified international human rights.) I will withhold further comment until others have read and responded to this quotation.