Introduction
The evolution of human rights can be traced back to the 18th century activism in which the gaps in the legal recognition and definite consciousness of human rights were narrowed. History indicates that human rights are not granted by the state rather, human rights are attained through struggle and challenge to the existing authority.
The current legal recognition of human rights attainment originated from various declarations and the most pronounced included the Magna Carta declaration in the thirteenth century that curtailed the royal powers, the American declaration of independence in 1776 and the French declaration of the rights of man and citizens in 1789 (Adedeji par 3). The stated declarations were some of the major revolutionary achievements towards attaining the current legal recognition of the universal human rights.
However, the current meaning of universal human rights is derived from the typologies of rights that were established after the formation of the UN following the Second World War.
The UN convention of 1948 established the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which fundamentally defined the central ideas applicable to all human rights (Adedeji par 4). While the current the UDHR is a declaration rather than a formal treaty, it forms the foundation of human rights. In fact, the rights of an individual and the limits of the state are fundamentally based on the declaration.
Following the negotiations on the importance of economic rights and civil and political rights, the UN general assembly in 1966 came up with a treaty that legally bound all the human rights into two aspects. The first aspect is the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the second aspect is the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
The 1966 treaty produced the legal binding declarations that basically formed the foundation of the current human rights structure (Adedeji par 4). Besides, the rights that were internationally agreed upon and put into legally binding treaty were largely borrowed from the UDHR. As indicated, the UDHR is not a binding legal document.
However, it is universally applied such that it attained the status of customary law that is binding. Together with the 1966 international treaty on human rights, the rights contained in the documents can be categorized into three groups namely the three generations of human rights.
Civil and political rights (first generation rights)
The first generation rights contain both individual rights and the limitations of the state on these rights. Most of these rights relate to liberty and includes the fundamental right to life (Sehmer 3). All the individual rights related to self-determination including freedom from discrimination, slavery, torture and political participation (Adedeji par 5).
Also included is the freedom of conscience, opinion, expression, thought and assembly (Adedeji par 5). Even though these rights and freedoms have been granted through universal suffrage, they remain in theory rather than practice. Most states do not grant the freedoms fully as contained within the legal treaties.
Economic and social rights (second generation rights)
The second generation rights are related to economic, social and cultural security of individuals. Basically, the rights relate directly to individual and are seen as supplements to the basic human rights. The state has to provide the necessary incentives in order to ensure that the rights are protected and enjoyed by the individuals (Sehmer 3). All the rights relate to social and economic wellbeing of individuals such as the right to education, healthcare and social amenities.
Environmental, cultural and developmental rights (third generation rights)
The third generation rights relate to environmental concerns, political and socio-economic developments. Under these rights an individual is obligated to stay in a protected and clean environment as well as the freedom to individual cultural, political and economic endeavors (Adedeji par 5).
The role of the state is to ensure that the living conditions of the citizens are within the precincts of the rights and the social, political and economic developments are geared towards improving the livelihoods of the individuals.
The evolution of the rights and freedoms
The categorization of the human rights into first, second and third generations follow the traditional method of grouping the fundamental rights depending on their chronological evolution (Adedeji par 7). The first generation rights emerged from the 18th and 19th century struggle for liberation from the oppressed totalitarian rules that characterized the state authority. The first generation rights such as freedom of conscience, speech and political participation emerged during this period.
Industrialization gave rise to increased inequalities and against the backdrop of the view of the states’ roles given the free political space, the need for social and economic equality was articulated (Sehmer 5). In fact, the socio-economic rights emerged during the industrialization periods when the majority struggled to attain economic and social equality as well as against the oppressing labor regulations (Adedeji par 8).
With increased globalization and responsiveness of environmental and socio-economic concerns such as extreme poverty in some places, the third generation rights were formulated. The third generation rights such as the right to self-determination have been adopted as a result of the challenges the world is facing currently including environmental concerns, extreme poverty and lack of appropriate healthcare facilities (Sehmer 5). The third generation rights were formulated as a solution to most of these challenges.
Works Cited
Adedeji, Lanre. n.d. A Review of the Three Generations of Human Rights. Web.
Sehmer, Carolin 2007, Report of the Parallel Event “Third Generation” Human Rights – Reflections on the Collective Dimension of Human Rights. Web.