Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
Today human rights are central to the discourse of International Public Policy and
Scholarship. And the mechanisms have evolved dramatically since the signing of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on 10 December 1948. Human
Rights do not exist in a vacuum, inevitably, they are formulated by individuals and
state and they are implemented by states themselves.
The Constitution of India was drafted by the Constituent Assembly on 9th December,
1946 and after long discussions and debates by the foremost legal luminaries and
thinkers of our country the draft Constitution was finally adopted on 26th November,
1949. The framers of the Indian Constitution were influenced by the concept of human
rights and guaranteed most of human rights contained in the UDHR. The UDHR
contains Civil and Political as well as Economic Social and Cultural rights. While
Civil and Political rights has been incorporated in Part III of Indian Constitution i.e.
Fundamental Rights, as Economic Social and Cultural rights have been incorporated
in Part IV of the Constitution i.e. Directive Principles of States Policy. The inclusion
of important provisions of UDHR in the Constitution of India has given them
supremacy over all other statutory provisions.
The table shows that many of Civil and Political rights enshrined in the UDHR also
find mentioned in Part III of Indian Constitution as Fundamental Rights. However,
these are certain rights which are contained in the UDHR but have not been expressly
mentioned in the Constitution. These rights are;
1. No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
or punishment (Article 5).
2. Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law
(Article 6).
3. Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an
independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and
obligations and of any criminal charge against him (Article 10)
4. Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent
until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the
guarantees necessary for his defense [Article 11. (1)]
5. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family,
home or correspondence, or to attacks upon his honour and reputation.
6. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or
attacks (Article 12.)
7. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to
his country [Article 13. (2)]
8. Everyone has the right to a nationality [Article 15. (1)]
9. Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or
religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to
equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution [Article 16.
(1)]
Indian constitution
Indian Constitution