A right is something that you are entitled to. As such human rights are those rights and fundamental freedoms that you are entitled to simply by virtue of being a human being.
Examples of some of the most commonly known and accepted rights are the right to life, the right not to be tortured, and the right to a fair trial. Other lesser-known and more contentious rights include the right to property, and the right to privacy.
A fundamental principle that underpins human rights is the idea of universality. This means that all people are entitled to the same human rights regardless of who or where they are.
A paradox is that despite this theory of universality, human rights do not come from a single source. In fact there are numerous declarations and conventions that outline human rights. Some of these attempt to address human rights generally, outlining a comprehensive range of rights, while others choose to focus on a specific area of rights. Two good examples are the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, on a large range of rights, and the Convention on Rights of the Child, dealing specifically with the rights of those less than 18 years of age.
A common misconception is that rights are opposed to responsibilities, when in fact the opposite is true. Human rights and the institutions behind them were originally designed to hold governments accountable on their responsibilities to protect the human rights of their citizens. Increasingly though, as human rights have evolved, private individuals and organisations have been asked to share the responsibility of ensuring everyone’s human rights are respected and promoted.
Very few human rights are absolute. Rather many have exceptions and conditions due to conflicting interests in society. For example the right to freedom and liberty is often limited by the need of authorities to arrest and detain criminals. In fact it is often the case that two human rights can clash directly with each other. The right to freedom of expression that a journalist exercises can violate the right to privacy of a person or group of persons. It is for this reason that responsibilities go hand in hand with rights. If we wish to have our human rights protected we must accept the responsibility to respect the rights of others. Striking the correct balance is one of the greatest challenges presented by the field of human rights.
