Basics of Human Rights in Asia
Human rights are generally defined as moral standards or guidelines for the protection of human rights and are frequently protected in international and municipal law. These rights originate with the human beings’ right to life, liberty and security. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a declaration made on December 11, 1948, by the United Nations Human Rights Committee in its Universal Declaration on International Human Rights. This declaration set out the universal human rights and the importance of these rights to maintain freedom, dignity and respect for all human beings.
In this article, we will be dealing with the first two points of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We will define what human rights are and how they are violated, and finally, compare the universal moral rights with the local human rights laws in different countries. We will also look at how the universal moral rights can be abridged or modified according to the will of the people.
According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security. These are the three universal moral rights and these rights are also recognized as human rights by the local communities. However, these rights differ in every country.
The first right is the right to freedom. This means that a person may not be deprived of his liberty nor denied his rights to education, health care and work. A person may, however, be deprived of his rights in cases of armed conflict and other violent acts committed against him or his country.
The second right is the right to work. A person may choose to work in any of the approved fields or professions. Labor conditions should be reasonably balanced to ensure a better standard of living for the workers. These human rights can also be abridged or modified according to the will of the local communities. For example, in the context of religious and social organizations, women are very often the primary breadwinners of the family and they have the right to enjoy equal rights with men.
The third right is freedom of speech and press. A person has the right to criticize national leaders, government, corporations and the media as well as local courts and police. In many countries, the media is very controlled and there are very few newspapers and magazines which are freely available. The freedom of the press is very limited in many of the Asian countries. There are very few human rights lawyers who are ready to defend and protect the human rights of their clients.