THE CITIZENS AND PUBLIC: Their Civil, Political and Human Rights

Baysic, Kevin Keith M.

POSC14

What is Human Rights?

United Nations Definition

Human Rights are generally defined as those rights which are inherent in our nature and without which we cannot live as human beings. CHRPs Definition
Human rights are the supreme, inherent and inalienable rights to life, to dignity and to self-development. It is the essence of these rights that makes man human.

Classification of Rights
According to source According to recipient According to aspect of life According to struggle According to recipient

According to source
Natural rights God-given rights, acknowledged by everybody to be morally good. They are unwritten but they prevail as norms of the society Constitutional rights

Rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

Statutory rights Rights enacted by Congress.

Put together, constitutional rights and statutory rights are sometimes referred to as legal rights.

According to Recipient
Individual rights Rights being accorded to individuals.

Collective rights
Rights of the society, those that can be enjoyed only in company with others.

According to the aspect of life

Civil rights Those that the law will enforce at the instance of private individuals for the purpose of securing to them the enjoyment of their means of happiness. Political rights Those rights which enable us to participate in running the affairs of the government either directly or indirectly.

Economic and social rights

Those which the law confers upon the people to enable them to achieve social and economic development, thereby ensuring them their well-being, happiness and financial security, like right to property, education, promotion of social justice.

Cultural rights
Those rights that ensure the well-being of the individual and foster the preservation, enrichment and dynamic evolution of national culture based on the principle of unity in diversity in a climate of free artistic and intellectual expression.

According to struggle and recognition

First generation, first kind of rights that people clamored and fought for. These are the civil and political rights. Second generation of rights are the economic, social and cultural rights
Third generation of rights are the collective rights

According to derogability :
Non-derogable or absolute rights
cannot be suspended or taken away even on extreme emergency.

Under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the non derogable rights are: 1 Right to life 2.Right against torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment 3. Right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law 4. Freedom from slavery and involuntary servitude 5. Right not to be imprisoned merely on the ground of inability to fulfill a contractual obligation

6. Right against expost fact laws

7. Right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion

Three conditions should be present before a right can be limited/ curtailed namely: Derogable or 1.It is only publicly announced or legislated, it relative rights is not by officials whim only; It can be suspended or taken and maybe 2.There is a state of emergency which requires limited depending the urgent preservation of on circumstances the public moral, public safety and public good; and 3.There must be a time limit.

NATURE OF STATE OBLIGATION

OBLIGATION OF CONDUCT States must respect human rights limitations and constraints on their scope of action.

OBLIGATION OF RESULT States are obliged to be active in their role as protector and provider.

OBLIGATION TO FULFILL
OBLIGATION TO FACILITATE requires the state to actively create conditions aimed at achieving full realization of human rights. *requires the state to take necessary measures to ensure that each individual has the opportunity to obtain the entitlements of human rights that can not be secured by personal or individual efforts alone. * considered the most intervention obligation and programme obligation.

OBLIGATION TO PROVIDE When individuals or groups are unable to realize their

rights by the means at their disposal, for reasons

beyond their control, the state has the obligation to provide

the right in question.

DUTIES OF INDIVIDUALS TOWARDS HUMAN RIGHTS

Duties of individuals vested with

authority to respect, protect and

promote human rights. Duties of individuals to exercise rights responsibly. General duties of individuals towards others and community

THE BILL OF RIGHTS

(Part II: Legal &

Political Rights)

LEGAL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS UNDER ARTICLE III

Article III, Section 1

The right to due process of law The right to equality under the law

Article III, Section 2

Protection against unwarranted searches and arrests

Basis of warrants: probable cause Warrants must always be specific

Article III, Section 11

Speaks of the right to have recourse to the judicial system Enshrines the right to equality under the law

Article III, Section 16

The right to a speedy trial

Justice delayed is justice denied

Article III, Section 18

Freedom from political persecution

Freedom from forced labor unless as punishment arising from a conviction

Article III, Section 12

Miranda rights Permissible use of police power Admissible confessions The right to redress in the event of a violation of these rights

Article III, Section 13

Right to bail
Extends to all crimes that do not constitute a capital offense or merit life sentences (i.e. 40 years) Bail should always be reasonable

Article III, Section 14

Right to due process of law in criminal cases

Innocent until proven guilty The right to confront ones accusers Basis for trials in absentia

Article III, Section 14

Criteria for determining guilt:

Confession Prima facie evidence Reasonable doubt

Article III, Section 17

Right against self-incrimination

Affirms the right of the accused to remain silent

Taking the fifth

Article III, Section 15

Writ of habeas corpus

An order demanding to produce the body of a detained prisoner Similarly demands that sufficient cause be shown for keeping the individual in custody

Limitations of the writ

Rebellion or invasion

Article III, Section 19

Right against excessive fines Right to reasonable and humane punishment

Article III, Section 21

Principle of Double Jeopardy

A person tried for an offense cannot be tried/punished for that same offense when judgment has been passed Protects against undue persecution under the law

Article III, Section 20

Freedom from debtors prisons

Ensures one is not punished due to poverty State power should not be used to coerce payment of debts

Poll Tax
a fixed, residence tax

Article III, Section 22

Protection from retroactive laws

Ex post facto = Arising after the fact

Bill of Attainder
legislative act that inflicts punishment without a trial

No cause is more worthy than the cause of human rights. Human rights are more than legal concepts; they are the essence of man. They are what make man human. That is why they are called human rights: deny them and you deny mans humanity. -Sen. Jose W. Diokno

Thank you!! Have a good day!!