The Fundamental RIghts
Article 1 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) says that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
And the 1st sentence of the Preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says,
"Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world..."
So these rights are fundamantal to human existence and hence are called fundamental rights ...
The nine fundamental rights recognized by the Indian constitution are:
Right to equality: Which includes equality before law, prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, gender or place of birth, and equality of opportunity in matters of employment, abolition of untouchability and abolition of titles.
Right to freedom: Which includes speech and expression, assembly, association or union or cooperatives, movement, residence, and right to practice any profession or occupation (some of these rights are subject to security of the State, friendly relations with foreign countries, public order, decency or morality), right to life and liberty, right to education, protection in respect to conviction in offences and protection against arrest and detention in certain cases.
Right against exploitation: Which prohibits all forms of forced labour, child labour and traffic of human beings
Right to freedom of religion: Which includes freedom of conscience and free profession, practice, and propagation of religion, freedom to manage religious affairs, freedom from certain taxes and freedom from religious instructions in certain educational institutes.
Cultural and Educational rights: Preserve the right of any section of citizens to conserve their culture, language or script, and right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.
Right to constitutional remedies: Which is present for enforcement of Fundamental Rights.
Right to life: Which gives the right to live with human dignity. This includes rights such as right to education, health, shelter and basic amenities that the state shall provide.
Right to education: It is the latest addition to the fundamentals rights.
Right to Information: RTI stands for Right To Information and has been given the status of a fundamental right under Article 19(1) of the Constitution.[2]
HUMAN RIGHTS
Substantive rights
Right to life
Main Article : Right To LIfe
Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.
— Article 6.1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
The right to life is the essential right that a human being has the right not to be killed by another human being. The conceptof a right to life is central to debates on the issues of abortion, capital punishment, euthanasia, self defense and war. According to many human rights activists, the death penalty violates this right.[76] The United Nations has called on states retaining the death penalty to establish a moratorium on capital punishment with a view to its abolition.[77] States which do not do so face considerable moral and political pressure.
Freedom from torture
Main article: Torture
Throughout history, torture has been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion. In addition to state-sponsored torture, individuals or groups may be motivated to inflict torture on others for similar reasons to those of a state; however, the motive for torture can also be for the sadistic gratification of the torturer, as in the Moors murders.
Since the mid-20th century, torture is prohibited under international law and the domestic laws of most countries. It is considered to be a violation of human rights, and is declared to be unacceptable by Article 5 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Signatories of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the Additional Protocols I and II of 8 June 1977 officially agree not to torture captured persons in armed conflicts, whether international or internal. Torture is also prohibited by the United Nations Convention Against Torture, which has been ratified by 157 countries.
National and international legal prohibitions on torture derive from a consensus that torture and similar ill-treatment are immoral, as well as impractical.[79] Despite these international conventions, organizations that monitor abuses of human rights (e.g., Amnesty International, the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims) report widespread use condoned by states in many regions of the world.[80] Amnesty International estimates that at least 81 world governments currently practice torture, some of them openly.
Freedom from slavery
Main article: Slavery
Freedom from slavery is internationally recognized as a human right. Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rightsstates:
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
Despite this, the number of slaves today is higher than at any point in history, remaining as high as 12 million[84] to 27 million,[85][86][87] Most are debt slaves, largely in South Asia, who are under debt bondage incurred by lenders, sometimes even for generations.Human trafficking is primarily for prostituting women and children into sex industries.
Groups such as the American Anti-Slavery Group, Anti-Slavery International, Free the Slaves, the Anti-Slavery Society, and the Norwegian Anti-Slavery Society continue to campaign to rid the world of slavery.
Right to a fair trial
Main article: Right to a fair trial
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.
The right to a fair trial has been defined in numerous regional and international human rights instruments. It is one of the most extensive human rights and all international human rights instruments enshrine it in more than one article.The right to a fair trial is one of the most litigated human rights and substantial case law has been established on the interpretation of this human right. Despite variations in wording and placement of the various fair trial rights, international human rights instrument define the right to a fair trial in broadly the same terms. The aim of the right is to ensure the proper administration of justice. As a minimum the right to fair trial includes the following fair trial rights in civil and criminalproceedings:[94]
the right to be heard by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal
the right to a public hearing
the right to be heard within a reasonable time
the right to counsel
the right to interpretation[94]
Freedom of speech
Main article: Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used. In practice, the right to freedom of speech is not absolute in any country and the right is commonly subject to limitations, such as on libel, slander, obscenity, incitement to commit a crime, etc. The right to freedom of expression is recognized as a human right under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and recognized in international human rights law in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
Article 19 of the ICCPR states that "[e]veryone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference" and "everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice".
Freedom of thought, conscience and religion
Main articles: Freedom of thought, Conscience and Freedom of religion
In 2014, Saudi Arabian writerRaif Badawi was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1000 lashes for 'insulting Islam'.
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
— Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
Freedom of thought, conscience and religion are closely related rights that protect thefreedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to think and freely hold conscientious beliefs and to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance; the concept is generally recognized also to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any religion.[95] The freedom to leave or discontinue membership in a religion or religious group—in religious terms called "apostasy"—is also a fundamental part of religious freedom, covered by Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.[96]
Human rights groups such as Amnesty International organises campaigns to protect those arrested and or incarcerated as a prisoner of conscience because of their conscientious beliefs, particularly concerning intellectual, political and artistic freedom of expression and association.[97] In legislation, a conscience clause is a provision in a statute that excuses a health professional from complying with the law (for example legalising surgical or pharmaceutical abortion) if it is incompatible with religious or conscientious beliefs.[98]
Freedom of movement
Main article: Freedom of movement
Freedom of movement asserts that a citizen of a state in which that citizen is present has the liberty to travel, reside in, and/or work in any part of the state where one pleases within the limits of respect for the liberty and rights of others,[1] and to leave that state and return at any time.
