Here is a partial list of human rights:
- The right to life, bodily integrity, and physical security: The right not to be subjected to physical harm, abuse, torture, cruel or degrading punishment and treatment; the right to live and to feel secure without fear and humiliation caused by people or the government.
- Freedom from slavery and servitude: Slavery, slave trade, and human trafficking (for labor or prostitution) violate the right to liberty.
- Freedom of movement: The right to move freely and not be arrested arbitrarily.
- Freedom of thought and conscience: The right to hold any thought, opinion, or belief and to form opinions without coercion, according to one’s personal freedom of conscience. See also independent thinking.
- Freedom of religion and freedom from religion: The right to choose, practice, or change one’s religion, as well as the right to practice no religion at all, without religious coercion. Read also here.
- Freedom of expression: (aka “freedom of speech”): The right to publicly express thoughts, opinions, and beliefs, to write and publish them, and to receive information related to them. This freedom includes freedom of the press and publication without government censorship, as well as the right to protest.
- Freedom of association: The right to form an organization, to join or leave an organization, and not to be forcibly affiliated with any organization.
- Freedom of occupation: The right of every person to engage in any occupation, profession, or trade of their choice (as long as it does not infringe on the rights of others).
- The right to privacy: The right to privacy, including protection of one’s private space and one’s private digital data, is essential for developing and expressing one’s personal autonomy without unwanted intrusion.
- Equality before the law: The country’s laws must treat every person equally, without bias, ensuring no discrimination for or against individuals or groups. The law must be enforced impartially by the authorities.
- The right to due process: When the government exercises power over an individual, it must follow due process: a fair procedure to determine the justification for restricting the individual’s rights. The aim is to ensure that throughout legal proceedings, from the moment a person is suspected of an offense until the conclusion of the process, any infringement on their rights is justified and proportionate.
Note 1
In addition to the above-mentioned rights, declarations of rights also include the right to property – the right of ownership over an asset (physical or intellectual), meaning that it is forbidden to take someone else’s property or enter a person’s home without their permission (unless the property is being used to harm others).
However, unlike all the rights mentioned above – which are based on fundamental values such as wellbeing, personal sovereignty, fairness, and mutual respect – the definition of the right to property also involves the additional concept of “property” which is grounded in social norms.
It is worthwhile to differentiate between two concepts. The more specific concept of personal belongings pertains to property used for satisfying necessary needs (such as food, clothing, a modest home, etc.). Whereas the more general concept is private property. It is justifiable, based on the concepts of wellbeing, personal sovereignty, and fairness, to respect a person’s right to their personal belongings, because their essential needs could not be met otherwise. However, when considering the general wellbeing of everyone, it is important to discuss these questions:
- Should there be any limits on types of private property that are used for generating profit? (e.g., land, factories, means of production, virtual capital). This pertains even to personal belongings if they far exceeds what a person really needs for living with dignity (e.g., a private jet, a luxury yacht, a mansion with dozens of rooms, luxury jewelry).
- Is it fair that there are such enormous gaps in wealth between people, especially when almost all of the world’s wealth is considered private property held by a small handful of billionaires?
- Even if in theory there should be limits to private property, how should these limits be implemented and by which principles and which organizations, so as not to cause even greater problems and harm to wellbeing, given people’s nature? E.g. compare the peaceful Bhoodan movement which attempted to persuade wealthy landowners to voluntarily give a percentage of their land to landless people, to the horrible communist revolutions, which directly and indirectly led to the torture and murder of at least 100 million people.
Note 2
The freedoms and rights mentioned above refer to the non-restriction of individual liberties and to fair treatment by the government. Some argue that, in addition, humans have social rights, such as the right to food, employment, medical care, education, and more. However, there is no consensus about these ideas among supporters of human rights. [Expand on this, and in particular negative vs. positive rights]