HUMAN RIGHTS

Human rights are said to be incontrovertible rights that every person on earth is entitled to just because he/ she is a human
being. These rights are inherent in every human being irrespective of his/her gender, culture, religion, nation, location, caste, creed or
economic status. The idea of human rights has been there for much of the human history. However, the concept differed in the earlier
times. Here is a detailed look at this concept.

Classification of Human Rights : Human rights have broadly been classified into two categorizes at the international level: civil and
political rights, and social rights that include economic and cultural rights.

Civil and Political Rights : Also known as classic rights, these limit the government’s power in respect of actions impacting individual’s
autonomy. It grants people the chance to contribute in the participation of government and determination of laws.

Social Rights: These rights direct the government to act in a positive and interventionist way in order to devise conditions required for
human life and development. Government of each country is expected to ensure the well-being of all its citizens. Every individual has
the right to social security.

Basic Human Rights : Here is a look at the basic human rights for every individual:

Right to Life : Every human being has the right to life. This right is protected by law. Every person is entitled to the right of not being
killed by another person. This right is, however, subject to the issues of self defence, capital punishment, abortion, war and euthanasia.
As per human rights activists, death penalty violates the right to life.

Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion : Every individual has the freedom of thought and conscience. He/she can think freely
and hold conscientious beliefs. A person also has the freedom to choose and change his religion at any point in time.

Freedom of Movement :This means that a citizen of a state has the right to travel, reside, work or study in any part of that state.
However, this should be within the respect for rights of others.

Freedom from Torture : Torture is prohibited under the international law since the mid-20th century. Even though torture is
considered to be immoral, organizations that monitor violation of human rights report that states use this extensively for interrogation
and punishment. Many individuals and groups also inflict torture on others for different reasons.

Right to Fair Trial : Every individual has the right to fair trial by a competent and impartial court. This right also includes the right to
be heard within reasonable time, right to public hearing, right to counsel and right to interpretation. This right has been defined in
various regional and international human rights instruments.

Freedom from Slavery : As per this right, no one shall be held in slavery. Slavery and slave trades are said to be prohibited in all forms.
However, despite this slave trade still goes on in many parts of the world. Many social groups are working to curb the issue.

Freedom of Speech : Every individual has the right to speak freely and express his opinion. This is sometimes also referred to as the
freedom of expression. However, this right is not given in absolute in any country. It is usually subject to certain limitations such as
obscenity, defamation and provocation for violence or crime, etc.

Conclusion :Human Rights, the basic rights given to individuals on the account of them being human beings, are almost the same
everywhere. Every country grants these rights irrespective of an individual’s caste, creed, colour, gender, culture and economic or
social status. However, at times these are violated by individuals, groups or the state itself. So, people need to stay on their guard
against any violation of human rights.

Human rights are those rights that every person on this earth is entitled to merely on account of being a human being. These rights are
universal and are protected by law. The idea of human rights and liberty has existed since centuries. However, it has evolved over the
period of time. Here is a detailed look at the concept of human rights.

Universal Human Rights

Human rights include basic rights that are given to every human being regardless of his caste, creed, religion, gender or nationality.
Here is a look at the universal human rights:

1. Right to Life, Liberty and Personal Security

2. Right to Equality
3. Right to Remedy by Competent Tribunal
4. Right to Recognition as a Person before law
5. Freedom from Discrimination
6. Freedom from Slavery
7. Freedom from Torture
8. Freedom from Arbitrary Arrest and Exile
9. Right to be Considered Innocent until Proven Guilty
 10. Right to Fair Public Hearing
11. Freedom of Movement
12. Freedom from Interference with Privacy, Family, Home and Correspondence
13. Right to Asylum in Other Countries from Persecution
14. Right to Nationality and Freedom to Change it
15. Right to Marriage and Family
16. Right to Education
17. Right to Own Property
18. Right of Peaceful Assembly and Association
19. Right to Participate in Government and in Free Elections
20. Freedom of Belief and Religion
21. Freedom of Opinion and Information
22. Right to Adequate Living Standard
23. Right to Participate in the Cultural Life of Community
24. Right to Social Security
25. Right to Desirable Work and to Join Trade Unions
26. Right to Rest and Leisure
27. Right to Social Order that Articulates this Document
28. Freedom from State or Personal Interference in the Above Rights

Violation of Human Rights

Though human rights are protected by various laws, these are still violated by people, groups and even by the state at times. For
instance, freedom from torture is often violated by the state during interrogations. Similarly, freedom from slavery is said to be a basic
human right. However, slavery and slave trade is still carried out illegally. Many institutions have been formed to monitor human right
abuses. Governments and certain non-government organizations also keep a check on these.

Conclusion

Every individual deserves to enjoy the basic human rights. At times, some of these rights are denied or abused by the state.
Government is taking measures to monitor these abuses with help from certain non-government organizations.

ARTICLE ON CHILD LABOUR

Child labourers have to toil long hours to eke out a living for themselves and support their families. Exploitation becomes a way of life
for them and becomes very harmful to their physical and mental development. They are forced to inhabit an adult world, shoulder
adult responsibilities, and suffer extreme exploitation.

Despite legislation banning child labour, it has not been possible to completely stop the practice of hiring children as labour across the
world. India is no exception to employment of children as labour; rather the country employs the largest number of child labourers in
the world.

Causes of Child Labour: Poverty, social inequality and lack of education are among is the main cause of child labour. According to a
UNICEF report, in rural and impoverished parts of the world, children have no real and meaningful alternative as schools and teachers
are not available. Many communities, particularly rural areas do not have adequate school facilities, even the availability and quality of
schools is very low.

Also, the low paying informal economy thrives upon the low cost, easy to hire, easy to dismiss labour in the form of child labour. After
the unorganized agriculture sector which employs 60% of child labour, children are employed in unorganized trade, unorganized
assembly and unorganized retail work. Other contributory factors to child labour include inflexibility and structure of India’s labour
market, size of informal economy, inability of industries to scale up and lack of modern manufacturing technologies.

Bonded child labour in India: Under this system, the child, or usually child’s parent enter into an agreement, wherein the child
performs work as in-kind repayment of credit. Though India passed the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act of 1976 prohibiting
solicitation or use of bonded labour including children, the practice of bonded child labour has not ceased.

Consequences of Child Labour: Child labour inflicts damage to a child’s physical and mental health. A child labourer has no basic
rights to education, development, and freedom. Children employed as labourers work in unsafe environments where there is a
constant danger of fatal accidents. They are forced to lead a life of poverty, illiteracy, and deprivation. They are required to perform
gruelling and physically demanding tasks and in return receive only meagre wages. Poor working conditions cause severe health
problems to such children. A child labourer not just suffers physical and mental torture but also becomes mentally and emotionally
mature too fast which is never a good sign.
Various laws but no implementation: Apart from the enactment of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, the Indian
Constitution has incorporated various provisions against child labour such as the following:

According to Article 24, no child below the age of 14 years shall be employed to work in any factory or in any hazardous employment
(but not in non-hazardous industries).

As per Article 39(f)), childhood and youth are to be protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment.

Article 45 stipulates that the state shall endeavour to provide within a period of 10 years from the commencement of the Constitution
free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of 14 years.

The Factories Act of 1948 prohibits the employment of children below the age of 14 years in any factory. The Mines Act of 1952
prohibits the employment of children below 18 years of age in a mine. Also, various laws and the Indian Penal Code, such as the
Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) of Children Act-2000, and the Child Labour (Prohibition and Abolition) Act-1986 seek to prevent
the practice of child labour in India. Unfortunately, these laws and regulations have not been backed by effective and proper
implementation and enforcement.

Conclusion: Collective efforts are needed on the part of society and the government to put an end to the practice of child labour. In
fact, every citizen should take a pledge to never employ child labourer, rather discourage others too from doing so. We should create
awareness amongst people employing child labourers and the parents sending their children to work. We need to provide our children
a happy childhood where they are able to enjoy the best period of their lives with a merry and carefree attitude. The government
should make efforts to increase the incomes of parents by launching various development schemes. Efforts should be made towards
poverty eradication combined with educational reforms to provide free or affordable access to quality education. Only by taking
comprehensive steps, the Government can hope to eliminate all forms of child labour by 2020.

The idea of human rights originated from ideas found in religion and philosophy in Western Europe. The modern Western idea of
human rights started in the European Enlightenment. In the 16th century, some people started suggesting that everyone had the
religious and political right to choose their religion and their leaders. This sort of thinking was important in the English Civil War. After
the war, the philosopher John Locke argued that people should have these rights; he was one of the first people to call them "human
rights." These ideas were also important in the American revolution and the French revolution in the 18th century.

In the 19th century, John Stuart Mill was an important philosopher who also thought about human rights. He said that people should
be able to control their own bodies and minds. He talked about three special ideas:

freedom of speech

freedom of assembly

freedom to do what a person wishes if it does not harm others (even if other people think it is bad)

Hegel was a philosopher who talked about the idea of free will. He also talked about what makes a person free: that a person has to
have certain relations with other people to have true freedom. A person has to be able to:

own property

make contracts with other people

make moral promises to people

live with anyone

get protection from laws

have a voice in government

Laws

Because people believe that human rights are important, countries make laws to protect them. These laws say
that governments cannot take away people's basic rights. They make sure people who take away other people's rights are punished.

Some major political organizations have made statements that promote human rights. These are not laws, but they affect us anyway. If
groups or countries do not follow these statements, others will condemn them (say that they are very bad); and then people may not
talk with them, do business with them, or help them.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen approved by the National Assembly of France, August 26, 1789

Some of the important places that human rights laws are written is in constitutions. The United States Constitution and Constitution of
France are two of the oldest set of laws based on human rights.

In 1948 the United Nations made the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This is a widely respected document that says what the
United Nations believes are human rights. It is not a law, but is the basis on which two important agreements are written:

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

These are United Nations human rights Covenants: agreements between people or countries. The countries who sign these two
covenants agree to follow them.

In addition to those Declaration and Covenants, there are many treaties and documents made by United Nations and other
international organizations. Those treaties and documents are called "International human rights law".

List of human rights

Not everyone agrees on what the basic human rights are. It is very clear that few countries permit all these rights. Also, there are
countries in which the rights are not illegal, but nothing is done to promote them. Here is a list of some of the most recognized rights:

Fundamental rightsRight to live

To be a citizen of a country

Right to housing

To own property

Safety.

Safety from violence

To seek asylum if a country treats you badly

Fair trial, and to be considered innocent until proven guilty

General life freedoms

The right to get an education

Health care (medical care)

To believe and practice the religion a person wants

Rights related to sexuality and procreation

Right to marriage and family

Equality of both males and females; women's rights

Not be forced into marriage

The right to express his or her sexual orientation

Political freedoms[

The right to express oneself: free speech

To vote

To peacefully protest (speak against) a government or group

To petition

Abuses[change \

Abuse means to intentionally harm a person or people physically, mentally, emotionally, or verbally once or many times. Human rights
abuse follows along similarly, also keeping in count the universal rights. Human rights abuse happens when a person is hurt in a way
that violates (goes against) his/her human rights. Human rights abuses are also often called human rights violations.

Examples of human rights abuses or violations are:

Putting a person in jail because they said that the government is doing bad things, or because they are religious or not religious.

Taking a person's home because they are from a different country

Not letting someone who is a citizen of a country vote because he or she has the "wrong" kind of attribute as mentioned on top of
article.

Violence toward someone because they have a (or any) religion, or a different religion to the one of the abuser.

Many people, groups, and countries think protecting human rights is very important. But not everyone in the world believes in human
rights. If people who do not believe in human rights have political power they can hurt many people. Even if these people have no
political power, they can be violent to other people. There are many people who work to protect everyone's human rights; some of
these are government groups, and some are not with any government. They are sometimes called human rights
organizations. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are examples of human rights organizations.