Organization for Human Rights and Development

Abstract

To be human is to be more than a mere mineral, plant, or animal. It is to be a rational and free person endowed with an intrinsic inalienable dignity and corresponding rights. Each and every human being has his or her own unique identity and potential for full and authentic development in the context of a given community, country, world, and universe. Human rights refers to the claim each person and group has to the essentials for human development and self-fulfillment. Corresponding to such rights are the obligations of others, including public authorities, to respect these claims. A person's rights imply duties for others. The rights of one are limited by the equal rights of others. All persons have basic human rights irrespective of sex, race, class, creed, or even age. Human rights pertain to the human being by nature. They are not merely a concession from the public authority. In understanding human rights we must take into account different kinds of rights: economic, political, social, and cultural. Certain rich countries direct attention primarily to political rights, because they have achieved economic sufficiency for almost all their people. In the poorer countries, such as those in South Asia, human rights must include all that is required for a person to live with dignity as a human being: the right to wholesome food, clean water, humane shelter, basic hygiene, proper sanitation, sufficient work, just income, decent transportation, meaningful leisure, free association, fair educational opportunities, acceptance by others as a human being equal to others, and the possibility of living a full lifespan (not to die prematurely because basic needs were inadequately met). During a visit to a Colombo shanty area, I noticed that the people there lacked almost all these rights, including clean water, housing, and a chance to live a full life. A man of forty had just been buried after dying