Facilitated by:

Shankor Paul
Head of Human Rights Unit
Concern Universal-Bangladesh (a UK based Int. Organization)
Session One
Conceptual Understanding of Human
Rights and Human Rights Violations
National Human Rights Commission-Capacity
Development Project


Session Objectives:
Sessions Methods:
Brainstorming
Presentation
Open Discussion
Sessions Timeline: 30 Minutes
Sessions Materials:
White Board & Marker Pen
Flip/Poster Chart paper
Laptop-Multi-media
VIPP Cards
At the end of this session, participants will understand:
What are Human Rights?
What are the basic characteristics of Human Rights
What are Human Rights Violation?
What are Human Rights Monitoring?
What are Human Rights Reporting?
What is Rights?
Right is an entitlement of a person. It is an interest that
recognized and protected by a rule of right.

As an example:
we use Right when we say that a person has a right to his
estate or a right to defend himself. A right entails an obligation and
can be enforced.
Rights
Legal Rights
Moral/Natural Rights
Legal Right is an interest that
recognised and protected by rule of
legal system and justice. The citizens
of can enjoy legal rights that
conveyed by the statutes or
legislature.
Natural Rights are called moral rights or
unalienable rights. These are not created
or conferred by any government or
statute or custom or convention of any
political system. It is morally universal.
Human Rights: Concept and Meaning
Human rights contain a set of basic standards without which people cannot
live in dignity as human being. These rights come with birth and are
applicable to all people throughout the world irrespective of their race,
color, sex, language, political or other opinion.

It means that we are all equally entitled to our human rights without
discrimination. These rights are all interrelated, interdependent and
indivisible.
UN Definition:

Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our
nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour,
religion, language, or any other status.
(Source: the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; http://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/pages/whatarehumanrights.aspx).
BNHRC Definition:
Human Rights means Right to life, Right to liberty, Right to equality and
Right to dignity of a person guaranteed by the constitution of the Peoples
Republic of Bangladesh and such other human rights that are declared under
different international human rights instruments ratified by the Peoples Republic
of Bangladesh and are enforce able by the existing laws of Bangladesh.
So Human rights entail both rights and obligations.
It views that Human Rights are:

1. Internationally guaranteed
2. Legally protected
3. Focuses on the dignity of the human being
4. Protects individuals and groups
5. Places obligations on states and state actors
6. Cannot be waived / taken away
7. Universal
Duty
Obligation
s
Sate
Individuals
Protect Respe
ct
Fulfill
Respecting human rights involves: a conscious effort to find our common essence beyond our apparent
divisions, our temporary differences, our ideological and cultural barriers.
(Source: Boutros Boutros-Ghali, UN Secretary-General, in opening the World Conference on Human Rights 1993)
Inherent

Universal

Inalienable

Indivisible

Human
Rights
Lives
with
Dignity
BASIC CHARACTERISTICS:
Inherent: means we are all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination.
Inalienable: means Human rights should not be taken away, except in specific situations
and according to due process.
Example- the right to liberty may be restricted if a person is found guilty of a crime by a court
of law.
Universal: means Human Rights are the same for all human beings in the world.
Indivisible: means all human rights are indivisible, whether they are civil and political
rights; economic, social and cultural rights, or collective rights, are indivisible, interrelated
and interdependent.
Origin and Development of Human Rights
The roots of the rights of man
traced in the Babylonian laws
(4000 years ago).
Hammurabis Codes
Ancient Period
(Roman and Greek)

Medieval Period
Modern Period
Ancient Period
Medieval Period

Modern Period
Morality
Ethics
True Norms
Reason
Natural Right
Rational
Principles of Human Rights
Principles of
Natural Right
Universal moral
standards
International Law




Public International Law
Private International
Law
Int. Human Rights Law
(IHRL)
Int. Humanitarian Law
(IHL)
British Magna Carta (1215)
Petition of Right (1628)
French Declaration of the Rights of Man (1789)
US Bill of Rights (1791)
Anti-slavery act, 1890 (Brussels Conference).
Establish League of Nations (1919)
Develop UN Charter and Establish United
Nations (1945)
UDHR (1948)
Human Rights and its Generations
Third Generation Rights: Solidarity rights.
Example:
o Right to sustainable development;
o Right to peace or to a healthy environment
First Generation Rights: civil and political rights
Example:
o The rights to equality and liberty,
o Freedom to practice religion or to express opinion
o The right to vote
o The rights to have access to information.
Second Generation Rights: economic, social, and cultural rights
Example:
Social: the rights to recreation, health care and privacy and
freedom from discrimination;
Economic: the right to work and fair remuneration, to an adequate
standard of living, the right to leisure time and the right to social
security.
Cultural: the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the
community, the right to the benefits of culture
What are Human Rights violation?
Generally, Human Rights violation refers to failures of the government
(State) to implement or exercise its legal obligations.
The term Human rights violation describes in the United Nations training
manual as governmental transgression of the rights guaranteed by
national, regional and international human rights law and acts and
omissions directly attributable to the State involving the failure to
implement legal obligations derived from human rights standards.

United Nations, (2001) Training Manual of the OHCHR on Human Rights Monitoring: Professional training series
no. 7, United Nations publications, New York and Geneva, 2001 page-10. Also available at:
http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/training7Introen.pdf
Individuals/groups of
people becomes victim

Human Rights Denying the Rights
Failures of state to
comply with its legal
obligations
As an example-1: Extra-Judicial killing
The term extrajudicial killing in its original meaning refers to homicides (killing) that
are committed outside the legal system with no prior judgment of a court.
Source: US legal definition of extrajudicial killings (Sinaltrainal v. Coca-Cola Co., 578 F.3d 1252 (11
th
Cir. Fla. 2009))
Int. Human Rights Law The Constitution of
Bangladesh
Article 3 of the UDHR, 1948:
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of
person.
Article-31: Right to Protection by
Law
Article-6(1) of the ICCPR, 1966:
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-32: Protection of Right to
life and personal liberty
HRC General Comment No. 6: Article 6 (Right to
Life) on 30 April 1982:
It is the supreme right from which no derogation is
permitted even in time of public emergency which
threatens the life of the nation (art. 4). This right should
not be interpreted narrowly.
Article-35: Protection in respect
of Trial and Punishment
References of Human Rights violation:
A violation occur when there is deprivation of life of a person:
Outside any due judicial process;
As a result of an act or an order;
By a state actor or by any other person acting with support, tolerance or consent
of the State.
Conceptual difference of HRV with Crimes and offence
Crimes: means acts or omissions that specially declared as crime by the
law of the land (i.e. Bangladesh)
Example:
Murder, Suicide, hurt, wrongful confinement, criminal forces,
Kidnapping, Rape etc.

Reference: Crime or offence has been defined in the Section-4 of the Code
of Criminal Procedure, 1898
Offence: means any act or omissions made punishable by the enacted law
(i.e. laws of Bangladesh).
Example:
It is generally affects human body;
offences against property;
Offences against public justice
Offences affecting public health and safety
Offences relation to religion etc.

Reference: Section-40 of the Penal Code, 1860 has defined offence,
which made punishable under the Penal Code, 1860 and under any
social or national laws.
What is Monitoring of Human Rights Violation?
Generally,:
Monitoring is the systematic process of collecting, analyzing and using
information to track the progress of an event toward reaching its objectives and to
guide management decisions.

Monitoring usually focuses on processes, such as:
when and where activities occur,
who delivers them and
how many people or entities they reach.

According to Human Rights perspectives,

Monitoring is a process of active collection, verification and immediate use of
information to address human rights problems.

Therefore, Human Rights monitoring is very much important to extract the real
facts and evidential information on human rights problems to reinforce legal
obligations of the government and other relevant actors for the protection of
human rights.
Example:
BNHRC can either act as mentor to continue the human rights monitoring by the state
authorities and human rights-based NGOs or directly regulate the ground monitoring
through field observation and investigation to collect necessary evidential information for their
strategic action in line with Section-12 of the NHRC Act, 2009.
What is Reporting of Human Rights Violation?
Generally, Reporting is a systematic presentation of information about a
specific human rights problem/issue.

It contains a complete and compact written document giving updated
information about a specific problem or situation.

It can be defined as an explanatory statement of facts relation to specific
problem or issue that provide information for effective response and follow up
action.
Reporting of human rights violation means the systematic presentation
of information on specific human rights problem that collated from
different sources.
Reporting of Human rights violation is very important to reinforce the mandates
and obligations of the NHRC. It is an essential tools to:

Demonstrate the context of specific human rights problem/issue.
Understand the facts with valid evidences on the acts, victims and
perpetrators.
Relate the facts with human rights standards
Explore suggestive actions as response to the fact.
Initiate advocacy and dialogues (by the NHRC) with involved authorities and
parties for taking visible action.