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IJRIM Volume 3, Issue 5 (May 2013) (ISSN 2231-4334)INTRODUCTIONRights, freedoms and privileges are such a basic part of human nature that they cannot be takenaway. These are different from rights which are given to people by the law. According to theDeclaration of Independence, these rights include “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.Natural rights are rights derived from natural law. In most historical discussions they are limitedto humans, and thus derive from human nature. It was argued that these rights are integrated withthe very definition of what it means to be human. Many philosophers and statesmen have listedwhat they believe to be natural rights; almost all include the right to life and liberty, as these areconsidered to be the two highest priorities in human nature. It was also argued that if there areany rights at all, there must be the right to liberty, for all the others would depend upon this.According to the Humane Rights Resource Center:Human rights are those basic standards without which people cannot live with dignity. To violatesomeone’s human rights is to treat that person as though she or he were not a human being. Toadvocate human rights is to demand that the human dignity of all people be respected.Civil Rights are rights held by individuals and groups derived from the social contract - thecommon consent of society at large to the rules under which its members live. The term relates inparticular to the ideas outlined by Rousseau in The Social Contract. Under this conception, civilrights derive from society rather than God or nature [see Human Rights, and Natural Rights] andcan be changed. On the one hand this gives the state the power to deprive people of liberties theyonce had (e.g. the ability to drugs, or to drink alcohol), but also enables "progressive" politicalgroups to argue for new "rights", for instance the "right to vote" or the "right to healthcare".Rights such as these cannot be derived from nature as they depend on particular (and notcommonly achieved) degrees of social organization and wealth.Human Rights can mean either natural rights or civil rights. Often used either of the term thatconflate the two ideas under the heading "human rights".LiberalismThe idea of liberalism originated in with thinkers such as John Locke, who was concerned withindividual Liberty and Rights; Jean-Rousseau, who first argued that sovereignty, comes from thepeople. The American Declaration of Independence (1776), the Bill of Rights and the FrenchInternational Journal of Research in IT & Management 61http://www.euroasiapub.org
IJRIM Volume 3, Issue 5 (May 2013) (ISSN 2231-4334)Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (1789) are the entirely liberal documents. Theword itself was not used until adopted by some Spanish liberals in the early 19th century.The main idea centered around the idea of liberty - to do what you want with the minimum ofstate interference. Liberty can be defined as freedom, which consists in the absence of externalrestraint. The early political goal was to replace elitist and aristocratic societies and states, withgovernments based on constitutional principles: legal equality, religious toleration, and freedomof the press, and, not least, to gain some say in government for the people who called themselvesLiberals – that is, in general, educated members of the middle class – through representativeinstitutions such as parliaments. As long as most governments were conservative or aristocratic,Liberals confined the political activities to achieving the kind of constitutional meritocratic statethey wanted. They wanted to repeal laws that were for the benefit of a small landed aristocracy.Liberals also had clear economic goals. They wanted the removal of control over the economy,whether from the government or guilds. Adam Smith's arguments supported this idea. In Britainespecially, they wanted to get rid of the Corn Laws. Liberal, or "classical" economics built onAdam Smith. It stated that government should not interfere with competition in the market.Society was conceived of as full of atomistic individuals in whom the limited role of governmentwas to maintain sound currency and defense.Need for education for human rights:The principal aims of education for human rights should be:-1. To strengthen respect for rights of a human being and fundamental freedom.2. To develop fully the human personality and the sense its dignity.3. To develop attitudes and behaviour to promote respect for the rights of others.4. To ensure genuine gender equality and equal opportunities for women in all sphere.5. To promote understanding and tolerance among diverse national, ethnic, religious, linguisticand other groups.6. To empower people to participate actively in the life of a free society.7. To promote democracy, development, social justice and communal harmony among citizens.As a matter of fact every segment of the civil society including the Mass Media have a vitalrole to play in promoting education for human rights.International Journal of Research in IT & Management 62http://www.euroasiapub.org
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