THREE GENERATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS

The division of human rights into three generations was initially proposed in
1979 by the French jurist Karel Vasak at the International Institute of Human
Rights in Strasbourg.
His division follows the three great watchwords of the French Revolution:
1. Liberté,
2. Égalité &
3. Fraternité.

FIRST-GENERATION HUMAN RIGHTS

deal essentially with liberty. They are fundamentally civil and political in
nature and serve to protect the individual from excesses of the state. First-
generation rights include, inter alia, freedom of speech, the right to a fair trial,
and freedom of religion.

First generation rights are therefore mostly negative rights. They were first
enshrined at the global level by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human
Rights & are rights from certain things, usually freedoms from abuse or
coercion by others, as opposed to positive rights which are the rights or
guarantees to certain things.

One example of a negative right is the 1st Amendmant of the consitution of the
USA, which prevents free speech from being reduced by laws.

Other negative rights include

 The right to security in private property,

 freedom of speech,
 freedom of the press,
 freedom of religion,
  the right to bear arms,
 freedom from violent crime and
 freedom from involuntary servitude.

SECOND-GENERATION HUMAN RIGHTS

are related to equality. They are fundamentally social, economic, and cultural
in nature. In social terms, they ensure different members of the citizenry equal
conditions and treatment. They also grant people the right to work and to be
employed, thus securing the ability of the individual to support a family. They
are mostly positive rights, representing things that the State is required to
provide to the people under its jurisdiction.

Positive rights are rights or guarantees to certain things, as opposed to

negative rights which are the rights from certain things, usually freedoms from
abuse or coercion by others.

For example, a right to an education is a positive right because education must

be provided by a series of positive actions by others. A school system, teachers
and materials must be actively provided in order for such a right to be fulfilled.
The right to be secure in one's home, however, is a negative right. In order for it
to be fulfilled, others need take no particular action but merely refrain from
certain actions, specifically trespassing or breaking into the home in question.

Different political philosophies have different opinions concerning positive and

negative rights. Under socialism and social democracy, positive rights are
considered an essential part of the social or governmental contract: something
that society promises to all its members. Under these philosophies there need
be no particular distinction between positive or negative rights, rather they
tend to be all listed together.

Many positive rights are economic in nature: they involve the rights-holder
being assured of the provision of some economic good such as housing, a job, a
pension, or medicine. Under most systems of social democracy, these are
provided under some manner of public welfare system, in which public funds
are used to establish public housing, works programs, social security, and the
like.

THIRD-GENERATION HUMAN RIGHTS

focus essentially on fraternity and, in generic terms, can be seen as rights of

solidarity. They cover group and collective rights: the right to self-
determination, to economic and social development, and to participate in the
common heritage of mankind. the question is that how we can get the
yhereshhold toward realism apart from idiolodies in determining the third
generetion of human rights