Introduction to Human Rights and Duties

Assignment No. 1

Q1. What is Meaning of Human Rights? Explain the significance of Human Rights
Education?
Ans. Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings,

whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or

ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status. We
are all equally entitled to our human rights without
discrimination. These rights are all interrelated, interdependent
and indivisible.
Universal human rights are often expressed and guaranteed by
law, in the forms of treaties, customary international law ,
general principles and other sources of international law.
International human rights law lays down obligations of
Governments to act in certain ways or to refrain from certain
acts, in order to promote and protect human rights and
fundamental freedoms of individuals or groups.
The United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education (1995-2004) has
defined Human Rights Education as "training, dissemination, and
information efforts aimed at the building of a universal culture of human
rights through the imparting of knowledge and skills and the molding of
attitudes which are directed to:
(a) The strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms;
(b) The full development of the human personality and the sense of its dignity;
(c) The promotion of understanding, respect, gender equality, and friendship
among all nations, indigenous peoples and racial, national, ethnic, religious
and linguistic groups;
(d) The enabling of all persons to participate effectively in a free society;

(e) The furtherance of the activities of the United Nations for the Maintenance
of Peace." (Adapted from the Plan of Action of the United Nations Decade for
Human Rights Education (1995-2004)
Human Rights Education as a Human Right
Education in human rights is itself a fundamental human right and also a
responsibility: the Preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(UDHR) exhorts "every individual and every organ of society" to "strive by
teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms."
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) declares that
a government "may not stand in the way of people learning about [their
rights]."
Rights, Responsibilities, and Action
Integral to learning about ones human rights is learning about the
responsibilities that accompany all rights. Just as human rights belong to both
individuals and society as a whole, the responsibility to respect, defend, and
promote human rights is both individual and collective. The Preamble of the
UDHR, for example, calls not only on governments to promote human rights,
but also on "every individual and every organ of society."
The Goals of Human Rights Education
Human rights education teaches both about human rights and for human
rights.Its goal is to help people understand human rights, value human rights,
and take responsibility for respecting, defending, and promoting human rights.
An important outcome of human rights education is empowerment, a process
through which people and communities increase their control of their own lives
and the decisions that affect them. The ultimate goal of human rights
education is people working together to bring about human rights, justice, and
dignity for all.
Who Needs Human Rights Education?
Human rights should be part of everyones education. However, certain
groups have a particular need for human rights education: some because they

are especially vulnerable to human rights abuses, others because they hold
official positions and upholding human rights is their responsibility, still others
because of their ability to influence and educate

Assignment No. 2
Q1. Write the Interrelationship of Rights and Duties?
Ans. Rights and duties are two phases of the same thing. Rights are
considered to be essential for the expansion of human personality. They
offer to the individual a sufficient scope for free action and thus prepare
ground for self-development. Although rights arc of great significance in a
democratic stale yet they become meaningless in the absence of duties.
Rights involve obligations as well.
An individual has rights so that he may make his contribution to the social
good. One has no right to act unsocially, man's rights imply his claims on
society and duties indicate the claim of society on the individual. This
means that an individual owes to the society certain duties as he obtains
rights.
According to Prof. Laski there is a four-fold connection between rights and
duties.
1. My Right implies Your Duty:
Every right of an individual involves a corresponding duty of others. For
example, my right to life implies that others should give protection and
security to my life.
My right to move about freely implies a corresponding duty resting on
others that they should not interfere with my free movement.
2. My Rights imply My Duty to admit a similar Right of others:
The conditions of life which I need for myself arc also needed by others.
This indicates that every right is a duty in itself. If an individual exercises a
right, he must bear in mind that the same right belongs to others as well.

If I have the right to freedom of speech, it is my duty to see that I may not
be a hindrance in the free exercise of this right by others.
3.I should exercise My Right to promote Social Good:
A person He guarantees the rights to the majority in the society to remove
the should not abuse the right given to him by the State.
For example, if he uses the right to freedom of speech for spreading
communal bitterness or society cannot deprive man of these rights; these
are inherent and to preach violence and anarchy, it becomes an act counter
to the social alienable rights, good. The state will then be justified in
depriving the person of his right if he has abused it.
4. Since the State guarantees and maintains My Rights, I have
the Duty to support the State:
The state is the agency for social good and it is the duty of an individual to
perform ones duties honestly.
The above-mentioned relations between rights and duties, there for clearly
prove that rights and duties go hand in hand. A healthy civic li] is
impossible without the co-existence of rights and duties. Rights without
duties have no meaning and duties without rights have no sense.
Assignment No. 3
Q2. Write in detail Provision of the charters of United Nations?
Ans. The Charter of the United Nations is the foundational treaty of
the intergovernmental organization called the United Nations.[1] It was
signed at the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center in
San Francisco, United States, on 26 June 1945, by 50 of the 51 original
member countries. (Poland, the other original member, which was not
represented at the conference, signed it two months later.) It entered into
force on 24 October 1945, after being ratified by the original five permanent
members of the Security Councilthe Republic of China (later replaced by

the People's Republic of China), France, the Union of Soviet Socialist

Republics(later replaced by the Russian Federation), the United Kingdom,
and the United Statesand a majority of the other signatories.
The Charter consists of a preamble and a series of articles grouped into
chapters.The preamble consists of two principal parts. The first part
contains a general call for the maintenance of peace and international
security and respect for human rights. The second part of the preamble is a
declaration in a contractual style that the governments of the peoples of the
United Nations have agreed to the Charter.

Chapter I sets forth the purposes of the United Nations, including the
important provisions of the maintenance of international peace and
security.

Chapter II defines the criteria for membership in the United Nations.

Chapters III-XV, the bulk of the document, describe the organs and
institutions of the UN and their respective powers.

Chapters XVI and Chapter XVII describe arrangements for integrating

the UN with established international law.

Chapters XVIII and Chapter XIX provide

for amendment and ratification of the Charter.

The following chapters deal with the enforcement powers of UN bodies:

Chapter VI describes the Security Council's power to investigate and

mediate disputes;

Chapter VII describes the Security Council's power to authorize

economic, diplomatic, and military sanctions, as well as the use of
military force, to resolve disputes;

Chapter VIII makes it possible for regional arrangements to maintain

peace and security within their own region;

Chapters IX and Chapter X describe the UN's powers for economic

and social cooperation, and the Economic and Social Council that
oversees these powers;

Chapters XII and Chapter XIII describe the Trusteeship Council,

which oversaw decolonization;

Chapters XIV and Chapter XV establish the powers of, respectively,

the International Court of Justice and the United Nations Secretariat.

Chapters XVI through Chapter XIX deal respectively with XVI:

miscellaneous provisions, XVII: transitional security
arrangements related to World War II, XVIII: the charter amendment
process, and XIX: ratification of the charter

The Preamble to the treaty reads as follows:

We the peoples of the United Nations determined
to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which
twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and
to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and
worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women
and of nations large and small, and
to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the
obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international
law can be maintained, and
to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger
freedom,
And for these ends
to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another
as good neighbours, and

 to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security,

and
to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of
methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common
interest, and
to employ international machinery for the promotion of the
economic and social advancement of all peoples,
Accordingly, our respective Governments, through representatives
assembled in the city of San Francisco, who have exhibited their full
powers found to be in good and due form, have agreed to the present
Charter of the United Nations and do hereby establish an international
organization to be known as the United Nations.