Today, it is generally accepted that basic human rights and freedoms are considered the norm: the right to work, to rest, to receive an education, to freedom of religion, etc. Some of them are included in the category of ânaturalâ rights. This is the right to life, the opportunity to raise your own children and so on. But that was not always the case. Just some 400-500 years ago, which is relatively recent by the standards of human history, very many could only dream of. The evolution of man from a "talking instrument" into a free and independent person occurred through three generations of human rights. Each of them is characterized by new, qualitative changes in the social structure. The fact that such a generation of human rights is discussed below.
First mention
First, about who first put forward this concept. For the first time, the evolution of society was proposed to be divided into three generations of human rights in 1979 in Strasbourg, at the International Institute of Human Rights. The idea was put forward by Czech lawyer Karel Fazak.
Theoretical base
Generations of human rights are an artificial concept in the social sciences. Nobody âincitedâ their policies to this. The basis of all three are the slogans of the French Revolution: Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood. The French declaration of human rights and freedoms has become the theoretical basis for other countries in Europe and America. The USA put forward a similar idea in its Declaration of Independence, many socialist and communist ideologies also took this idea as a basis in the political struggle.
The first generation of human rights (âblue rightsâ)
The first generation is recognized by all social scientists, legal scholars, historians. It is associated with a theoretical understanding of society of natural and political rights and freedoms :
- the right to live;
- for free religion;
- voting right;
- the right of everyone to participate in the political life of the country;
- a fair court system;
- on free labor, etc.
Today, these principles seem natural, understandable to us. If they are violated, then we most likely begin to publicly trumpet arbitrariness, write complaints, contact the media, and post the violation on the Internet. Sometimes this leads to loud resignations, scandals, exposure. But it was not always so. Only 4-5 centuries ago, many could not imagine that at birth everyone is equal. It was believed that higher forces themselves determine fate. To go against public principles means to anger God. Until now, such a tradition is reflected in folklore. We can recall our proverbs: âwhere you were born, it came in handyâ, âobedience is better than respectfulnessâ, âdonât say much in the presence of great soulsâ, etc. They originally laid down the traditions of inequality by nature.
The collapse of the old foundations
Traditional social foundations were destroyed by the following Declarations:
- Magna Carta.
- English Bill of Rights.
- French Declaration of Human Rights and Freedoms.
- United States Bill of Rights.
- US Declaration of Independence.
All these historical documents that acted at the local level formed the basis of international legal documents. The concept of three generations of human rights appeared thanks to the above legal acts. Although for a long time they did not have the status of a state document. It is not known how the theory of the generation of human rights would develop if history developed in a different scenario: the States in America would lose the war for independence, and the royal power in France would brutally suppress revolutionary actions. However, we believe that humanity would still have reached the social order that prevailed today. And today in some countries there are reactionary forces that are trying to stop the development of human consciousness. But they hold back the development of a maximum of one human generation. The genesis of rights and freedoms is progressively moving forward.
Current international legal standards
Based on the declarations of the first generation, modern international legal norms have been created:
- 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
- 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
- 1953 European Convention on Human Rights.
The second generation of human rights (âred rightsâ)
The second generation is also recognized by almost all social scientists. This concept is associated with events after the Second World War. Imperialism collapsed, the exploitation of some nations over others ended. In society, economic and social rights have been actively disseminated.
The difference between the first generation and the second
We group the distinctive properties of the first generation of human rights and the second in the form of a table:
| Distinctive features | Events Affecting Public Consciousness | State requirement |
First generation | Political Rights. Natural rights | The struggle for independence in the United States. The great French bourgeois revolution | The requirement to protect the influence of the state in the political sphere, to give access to all citizens to participate in the political life of the country |
Second generation | Economic rights. Social rights | World War II and, as a consequence, the collapse of the colonial system | The requirement to oblige the state to fulfill obligations for all in the social sphere, education, medicine, etc. |
Economic inequality levels political rights
In the 20th century, political and natural rights were formally respected. However, they were leveled by other inequalities: social and economic. This meant that a person had the right to life, no one had the right to kill him on the street as a slave, which had previously happened in many slave states. But there was no equality in social and economic rights. For example, in hospitals, some people were denied first aid, in schools, many did not have the right to receive education, etc.
Imagine the situation that the director of a municipal school has begun to selectively allow those who have the right to attend school to attend classes at their discretion. Now this seems unlikely, but only 50-100 years ago it was the norm. Education and medical services were considered luxury, expensive services that all people cannot afford. Today we can refer to the fact that there are paid hospitals, educational institutions that many can not afford. To this we will answer that the standards of education and health are the same for everyone. Only the service, tinning, external appearance differs.
The theoretical basis of the second generation
The second generation is based on the following international legal documents :
- International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
- Rooseveltâs Second Bill of Rights.
- European Social Charter.
The second generation of human rights is called red rights. They oblige the state to fulfill basic obligations to all citizens in the social sphere, healthcare, education, etc.
"Green Rights" - the development of collective justice
The third generation of human rights is conventionally called "green rights." Unlike the other two, few people distinguish it in science. For many, the concept of generations of human rights is limited to two. However, most disagree with them. Let's analyze their arguments.
Forward development
So, generations of human rights and freedoms each time give new qualitative changes in public consciousness. If in the first generation these are basic natural and political rights, in the second - social and economic, then in the third - the formation of collective rights. It does not emphasize any sphere separately. The concept itself proposes to develop the rights of collectives in all areas of society.
This is based on the fact that the individual alone cannot defend his rights alone. It is necessary to unite. After the Second World War, it was public organizations that developed: trade unions, public organizations, and political parties.
Even large financial companies create Unions: industrialists, trucking companies, and agricultural producers. Everyone has one goal: to coordinate their actions in the face of danger.
Unite in large unions by industry and state. For example, oil-exporting countries have joined together in OPEC with the goal of developing common rules in the market.
If large states, companies create collective security, then the individual all the more needs to unite to jointly defend their interests.
Liberals do not agree with this point of view. They believe that it is necessary to protect each individual individual, and then the collective as a whole will be protected. This position fails every day. In the 20th century, the struggle for human rights was associated with religion, color, political views, labor relations, the rejection of the traditional values ââof the family, marriage, etc. At the end, it came to be understood that only collective defense is able to protect the rights of an individual.
Summary
We examined the generation of human rights and freedoms. To summarize. Today, our society cannot find a middle ground. Always the right of one person leads to a violation of the right of another. Modern integration processes in Europe have revealed a clear crisis in the politics of tolerance and tolerance. The civilization of the West is going through the most difficult times. All that she fought for turned out to be ineffective in the face of a new danger - terrorism and migration. It is enough to recall the cases of sexual harassment in Berlin, the bombings in Paris. This is because the traditional East does not understand the progressive West. Ways of solution are needed: either to protect themselves from the East, or to accept its values. Liberal politics did not lead to anything good, because migrants quickly begin to âbeatâ Europeans with their own coin: to call for freedom of movement, religious tolerance, and equality of labor relations.