Human rights refer to universal rights of people regardless of jurisdiction or other factors, such as ethnicity, age, nationality, sexual orientation or religion.

The preamble of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights begins “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”  These human rights include:

• the right to life, liberty and security of person
• No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms
• No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment
• All persons are equal before the law and are entitled to equal legal protection including a lack of discrimination, access to legal tribunals, freedom from arbitrary arrest and/or detention, and the right to the presumption of innocence.
• All persons have a right to privacy, to nationality and asylum, and to political participation; as well as freedom of movement and association and freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.
• Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realisation, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social, and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality
• "(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work, and to protection against unemployment. (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection. (4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
• "Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.
• "(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care, and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age, or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. (2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection."
• All persons have a right to education and full participation in the cultural life of the community.
• "(1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible. (2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order, and the general welfare in a democratic society.

We can readily see the link between economic activity and some of the human rights such as no one shall be held in slavery or servitude, the right to social security, the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work, and to protection against unemployment, the right to equal pay for equal work, the right to just and favorable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, the right to form and to join trade unions and the right to rest and leisure.

The Church states that “An adequate solidarity in the era of globalization requires that human rights be defended.” All activity in the economic arena must seek to preserve the human rights listed above.

The Church has however registered its concern that not only has “the vision of an effective international public authority at the service of human rights, freedom and peace not yet been entirely achieved, but there is still in fact much hesitation in the international community about the obligation to respect and implement human rights.”

Simply, what this means is that many of the world’s institutions do not adequately seek to preserve the human rights of people. For example, the International Fair Trade Organisation has highlighted that the international trading system has not fulfilled its promise to reduce poverty, which makes living with dignity very difficult for many.

In fact trade activities make persons lives more vulnerable because of protectionist policies, discrimination against products coming from poorer countries.

This duty to respect and implement human rights “touches all fundamental rights, excluding that arbitrary picking and choosing which can lead to rationalising forms of discrimination and injustice.” The clear message here is that all human rights for everyone must be protected, there is no excuse for anyone not being entitled to their human rights.

The Church also warns of “the emergence of an alarming gap between a series of new ‘rights' being promoted in advanced societies – the result of new prosperity and new technologies – and other more basic human rights still not being met, especially in situations of underdevelopment.

I am thinking here for example about the right to food and drinkable water, to housing and security, to self-determination and independence – which are still far from being guaranteed and realised”.

Next week we look at the whole issue of globalisation and civil society.
Persons interested in purchasing the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, nay contact the Justice Desk, Archbishop’s House, 622-6680.