Human rights: the UDHR, generations and new claims

Detail

What "human rights" means

• Human rights are rights a person has because they are a human being. They do not depend on nationality, caste, sex, religion or status. They rest on the idea of inherent dignity: every human being has worth that no state can grant or take away.
• They are universal (they belong to everyone, everywhere) and inalienable (they cannot be given away or taken away).
• Indian legal definition: the Protection of Human Rights Act 1993 defines "human rights" as rights relating to life, liberty, equality and dignity of the individual. These rights must be guaranteed by the Constitution or written into the International Covenants, and they must be enforceable by courts in India [7].

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), 1948

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR): the first worldwide list of basic rights that all people should enjoy.
• Why it came about: it grew out of the experience of the Second World War [2].
• Drafting path [2]:
• In 1946 the first session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) looked at a draft declaration. It sent the draft to ECOSOC (the UN Economic and Social Council), which passed it to the Commission on Human Rights.
• In early 1947 the Commission set up a formal drafting committee of eight states, chosen from different regions.

• The first full draft came in September 1948. Over 50 member states took part in the final drafting.

• Key drafters [2]:

Person	Country	Role
Eleanor Roosevelt	USA	Chaired the drafting committee
René Cassin	France	Wrote the first draft
Charles Malik	Lebanon	Rapporteur (the person who reports on the committee's work)
Peng Chung Chang	China	Vice-Chairman
John Humphrey	Canada	Prepared the blueprint
Hansa Mehta	India	Got "all men" changed to "all human beings" (Article 1: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights")

• Adoption: the UNGA, meeting in Paris, adopted and proclaimed it on 10 December 1948 by Resolution 217 A (III). The vote was 48 for, none against, 8 abstentions [2].

• 10 December is now Human Rights Day.

• Form and legal status:

• It has 30 articles.
• It is a declaration, not a treaty. States do not sign or ratify it, so it does not bind them directly.
• It is a "common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations". This means a goal that states agree to work towards.

• Many of its rules are now treated as customary international law (rules that bind all states because states follow them widely and accept them as law).

• Preamble (the opening part; NCERT reproduces it in Ch 5 "Rights") says:

• Recognising the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all humans is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace.
• The highest hope of ordinary people is a world with freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want (want means poverty or need).

• Human rights must be protected by the rule of law. Otherwise people may be forced to turn to rebellion against tyranny and oppression as a last resort.

• Link to the Freedom chapter: NCERT (Ch 2) uses Aung San Suu Kyi's idea of freedom from fear. This matches the Preamble's phrase "freedom from fear".

International Bill of Human Rights and core treaties

• International Bill of Human Rights = UDHR (1948) + ICCPR + ICESCR.
• ICCPR (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights): covers rights such as life, free speech, fair trial and voting.
• ICESCR (International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights): covers rights such as work, health, education and an adequate standard of living.

• Both were adopted in 1966 and came into force in 1976. India acceded in 1979. Accession means joining a treaty after it has already been signed by others.

• Other treaties India has joined:

Convention	Subject	India joined
CEDAW	Ending discrimination against women	1993
CRC	Rights of the child	1992
CRPD	Rights of persons with disabilities	2007

• Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (1993): says all human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent.
• Indivisible means civil rights and economic rights cannot be separated or ranked.
• Interdependent means each right depends on the others. For example, free speech means little to a person who is starving.

Three generations of human rights (Karel Vasak, 1977)

• Karel Vasak (1977) grouped human rights into three "generations". He matched them to the three words of the French Revolution's slogan:

Generation	Rights	Slogan word	Nature	Examples
First	Civil and political	Liberty	Mainly "negative": the state must not interfere	Life, speech, religion, fair trial, vote (ICCPR)
Second	Economic, social and cultural	Equality	"Positive": the state must provide	Work, education, health, social security (ICESCR)
Third	Collective or solidarity rights	Fraternity	Held by groups and peoples; need cooperation between states	Development (UN Declaration on the Right to Development, 1986), peace, healthy environment

• Link to Berlin: first-generation rights fit Isaiah Berlin's negative liberty (freedom from interference). Second-generation rights fit positive liberty (having the real means to act).
• Criticism: the word "generations" wrongly suggests that the rights come in a fixed order and that some matter more than others. The Vienna Declaration (1993) rejects any such ranking.

NCERT's expanding list of new claims

• NCERT says the list of human rights keeps growing as new threats appear and people become more aware of them. Its examples are:
• Environmental rights: clean air, clean water and sustainable development (meeting today's needs without harming future generations).
• Right to livelihood, meaning the means to earn a living.
• Children's rights.
• Tribal peoples' right to their habitat (their land, forests and way of life).

• Freedom from bonded labour, meaning work forced on someone to pay off a debt (NCERT exercise Q3 asks about these claims).

• How new claims win support: moral outrage, meaning public anger at injustice.

• Example: Bob Geldof's Live 8 concerts (2005) appealed to the world to fight poverty in Africa.
• The broad idea: people see suffering → they feel it is wrong → they push governments to accept it as a rights issue.

Environmental rights: from claim to recognised right

• Global level: on 28 July 2022 the UNGA adopted Resolution 76/300. It recognised the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment as a human right [5].
• Vote: 161 for, 0 against, 8 abstentions. The states that abstained were Belarus, Cambodia, China, Ethiopia, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Syria [5].
• The resolution says this right requires states to fully carry out the multilateral environmental agreements (environmental treaties signed by many countries) [5].

• The UN Secretary-General linked it to the "triple planetary crisis": climate change, loss of biodiversity and pollution [5].

• Indian courts read this right into Article 21 (right to life and personal liberty):

• Subhash Kumar v. State of Bihar (1991): the right to life includes the right to pollution-free water and air.
• M.K. Ranjitsinh v. Union of India (2024), the Great Indian Bustard case: the Court recognised a right against the adverse effects of climate change.

Institutions that protect rights

• UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC):
• It was created by UNGA Resolution 60/251 of 15 March 2006. It replaced the Commission on Human Rights [6].
• It is a subsidiary body of the UNGA and sits in Geneva [6].
• It has 47 member states. Each is elected directly by secret ballot and needs a majority of all UNGA members [6].
• Seats by region: Africa 13, Asia 13, Latin America and Caribbean 8, Western Europe and others 7, Eastern Europe 6 [6].

• Universal Periodic Review (UPR): every UN member state's human-rights record is reviewed in turn. The review is a cooperative dialogue, and the country under review takes full part. All states are reviewed on an equal footing [6].

• India: Protection of Human Rights Act (PHRA) 1993

• It created the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the State Human Rights Commissions (SHRCs) and Human Rights Courts in districts for speedy trial of human-rights offences.
• 2019 amendment: introduced in Lok Sabha on 8 July 2019, passed by Lok Sabha on 19 July and by Rajya Sabha on 22 July 2019 [3]. Parliament passed it unanimously [4].

Point	PHRA 1993 (original)	After 2019 amendment [3]
NHRC Chairperson	Only a former Chief Justice of India	A former CJI or a former Supreme Court Judge
Other NHRC members (human-rights experts)	2	3, at least one a woman
Ex-officio members (members because of another post they hold)	Heads of several national commissions	Also the heads of the NCBC, NCPCR and the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities
Term	5 years	3 years or until age 70, whichever comes first
SHRC Chairperson	A former High Court Chief Justice	A former HC Chief Justice or HC Judge

• Fuller details of the NHRC are covered under the fundamental-rights and statutory-regulatory-bodies notes.

Debates and criticisms

• Universalism versus cultural relativism
• Universalism: the same rights apply to every human being in every culture.
• Cultural relativism: each society should judge rights by its own values.

• "Asian values" argument (1990s): Asian societies put family, community, order and duty above individual rights, so Western-style rights should not be imposed. Critics reply that this often protects rulers, not citizens.

• Selective enforcement: powerful states criticise abuses by rivals but ignore abuses by their allies. Membership of the UNHRC itself has been questioned for this reason.

• Paper rights versus real rights: the UDHR does not bind states, so it has no direct enforcement. Second-generation rights depend on resources, so states often treat them as goals rather than rights a court can enforce.
• Inflation of rights: some critics say that adding too many new claims weakens the core rights. Supporters reply that new threats, such as climate change, need new protections.

Prelims Hooks

• UDHR: adopted in Paris on 10 December 1948 by Res. 217 A (III). Vote: 48–0–8. It has 30 articles and is not legally binding.
• Hansa Mehta (India) changed "all men" to "all human beings". Eleanor Roosevelt chaired the drafting. René Cassin wrote the first draft.
• International Bill of Human Rights = UDHR + ICCPR + ICESCR. The covenants were adopted in 1966, came into force in 1976, and India acceded in 1979.
• Vasak (1977): first generation = civil and political = liberty. Second = economic, social and cultural = equality. Third = solidarity (development, peace, environment) = fraternity.
• Right to Development: UN Declaration of 1986 (a third-generation right).
• UNGA Res. 76/300 (28 July 2022) recognised the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. Vote 161–0–8; China and Russia abstained.
• UNHRC: created in 2006 by Res. 60/251. It has 47 members, sits in Geneva, replaced the Commission on Human Rights and runs the UPR.
• PHRA 2019 amendment: a former SC Judge can now chair the NHRC. The term was cut from 5 to 3 years (or age 70).
• Case pairs: Subhash Kumar (1991) = pollution-free air and water under Art. 21. M.K. Ranjitsinh (2024) = right against the adverse effects of climate change.
• Trap: the Vienna Declaration (1993), not the UDHR, first stated that rights are "universal, indivisible and interdependent".

Mains Points

• Generations debate: the three-generation scheme is useful for sorting rights. But dividing rights into "negative" and "positive" is weak, because even a fair trial costs the state money. India shows this in practice: courts have turned Directive Principles (second-generation goals) into enforceable rights through Art. 21, covering livelihood, health and environment. This supports the Vienna idea that rights are indivisible.
• Universalism versus cultural relativism: India's own position mixes both. It is a party to the major covenants (ICCPR and ICESCR, 1979) and to CEDAW, CRC and CRPD. Yet it resists outside judgement on internal matters as a question of sovereignty (a state's right to govern itself). A balanced answer: core dignity rights are universal, but how they are put into practice can respect each culture.
• Strengthening the NHRC: the 2019 amendment widened the pool of people eligible to lead it and added more ex-officio members. But common criticisms remain: its recommendations are not binding, it depends on government for staff, and it has limited power over the armed forces. Reform ideas include making its recommendations binding and giving it its own investigation staff.
• New claims driven by moral outrage: campaigns such as Live 8 (2005), along with climate litigation (Ranjitsinh, 2024; UNGA Res. 76/300, 2022), show how rights grow. Public concern turns into a political demand, then into law. This is useful for GS-II answers on rights-based governance and environmental justice.