The Purpose of Human Rights and Private Law - Essay Example

The purpose of human rights is to protect certain fundamental interests of citizens from the power of the The purpose of private law is to facilitate the activities of free and equal citizens. The two should not be confused.” Name Institution Human rights enshrined in the different nation constitutions. People consider private law to be reasonably wide apart due to the clear distinction between private and public law. People consider private law immune due to the effect of the various fundamental rights. In European legal systems and in German in particular, private law and fundamental rights are starting to converge. The two are different despite the fact that they relate to one another2. Human rights are the freedoms and rights that all human beings have an entitlement to enjoy during their lifetime. They are the rights that the state has an obligation to provide to the citizens. They include the right to liberty, life, expression and thought, and equal treatment before the law. These rights express the various responsibilities that the government should provide to individuals and, responsibilities of the government authorities to groups or individuals3. The state bears the role of ensuring that all the citizens enjoy their rights. They are fundamental inalienable rights, which all people in the state have an entitlement to as human beings. The rights exist as legal or natural rights in both international and national law. Human rights are an international practice that prevails in policies of different states and, and in various activities organizations that are nongovernmental4. Human rights are norms that protect people from legal, social, and political abuses. The source of conception of these rights is the treaties, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the human rights documents that people followed in international organizations. The Declaration of the rights clearly illustrates many human rights that all countries have a responsibility to protect and respect5. The rights fall into six key families, which include Security rights that protect all the people against crimes like murder, torture, rape, and massacre. Due process rights, which protect people against the abuse of legal system. The abuse includes imprisonment of individual without trial, excessive punishments, and secret trials6. Liberty rights protect individuals’ freedom in expression, belief, association, movement, and assembly. Political rights protect a person’s liberty to involve themselves in politics via various acts like assembly, communication, serving in public offices, and voting. Equality rights ensure equal citizenship, non-discrimination and equality before the law. Welfare rights ensure that an individual acquire quality education and that the government protects them from starvation and severe poverty. Group rights are also remarkably vital rights that the Universal Declaration leaves that protect the different ethnic groups from genocide. It also covers the ownership of various resources and territories by the groups7. The various ideas that led to the development of the human rights arose during the Second World War. In 1948, the United Nations made a remarkable step in adopting the Universal Declaration of Human rights. The societies that existed during the period had developed elaborate systems, political legitimacy, and conceptions of justice meant to realize human dignity. Another crucial issue that has contributed to the development of human rights is the secularization of the Judeo-Christian ethics by the Europeans. A human being gives birth to a baby who is equal in dignity to the mother8. Human beings have a conscience and reason that guides them to act to one another in the spirit of goodwill. Human rights form vocabularies that articulate the norms of various cultures that guide people to associate with one another effectively9. The widespread nature of agreements of international human rights provides the necessary support of the values that human widely share. Human rights norms are particularly vital in every society since it imposes requirements on governments to respect the various fundamental freedoms and rights of individuals. Conflict may arise due to the failure to protect the various human rights of individuals. This may result in serious human rights violation, which leads to building of hatred that makes a process of restoring peace difficult10. The states must ensure that they institute policies meant to protect human rights. For a country to attain the three global achievements, protection of human rights is extremely essential. These achievements that demand execution of human rights include peace, democracy and development. People respect and consider human rights as a critical part of foreign policy and international law11. Various interventions have taken place with the intention of protecting human rights. To protect the rights is to ensure that all human beings receive decent human treatment. All the nations contribute to promote worldwide respect for human rights. Humanitarian law, refugee law, and the international human rights law protect the right to life and limit the power of the state that is unrestrained. This preserves humanity and protect individual from anything that would challenge their health, social stability, political peace, and their economic well-being. The responsibility of protecting human rights lies with the states. In cases where the government officials and public authorities institute policies that would violate human rights, they would be abusing their powers. Leaders should abstain from abuse of power as it has devastating effects, which include war crimes, various crimes against humanity, genocide, and war crimes. The abuse of power by the various state leaders has led to the humanitarian intervention. The intervention falls into a single state unilateral interventions and intervention by a group of states12. The different states have emerged with different conceptions of justice. Where a state destroys the rights and lives of the citizens through atrocious actions, outside governments have a duty to intervene and protect the human rights, therefore, preserving life. Political systems significantly reduce world conflict by protecting human rights13. The other governments can intervene where the aim is to maintain international order, promoting justice, and preserving security. Governments have shown reluctance in committing resources and forces to defend human rights. Governments should avoid using violence when ending violations of human rights as they might lead to loss of innocent lives14. To achieve various humanitarian objectives, there should be minimal use of violence. Intervention should have a motivation of humanitarian concerns that are genuine, and the process should be legitimate15. Despite the fact that intervention is an expensive process, it should be encouraged to ensure that the power of the state protects the fundamental rights of the citizens. The state should act responsibly to ensure that they give priority to the rights of the citizens since they should enjoy them. The state has a responsibility to ensure that it protects these rights. The state should adopt various protection methods to ensure protection to the rights of citizens. It should protect the war victims and refugees during the violent conflict, and safeguard human life. It has a responsibility to come up with peacekeeping strategies in an attempt to prevent further violence. It should introduce human rights education as part of the general public education to ensure that all citizens are aware of their rights. The security forces and the police should be educated to ensure that they observe human rights during enforcement of the law16. The state should initiate dialog groups to bring people of different ethnicities together to overcome fear, grief, and mistrust in the society. They will enhance observation of human rights in the different societies and states. People should live together in harmony without fear in a state where the government is responsible. The state manifests its responsibility by ensuring that cases of human rights violation do not exist17. Many groups have achieved social changes in 20th century. The laws include the ones that gave workers the right to strike, established minimum work that an individual should perform, and those forbidding child labour. These laws express the various rights that individuals have an entitlement to, and that enable them to achieve social changes. Awareness of the rules is the most noteworthy thing as when people are aware of their rights, and then they can effectively negotiate for them18. Gender inferiority has also reduced significantly with the observation of various individual rights. The society gives women full rights to express their political views through voting. Before the introduction of human rights, the society considered women to be inferior beings, and hence denied critical benefits that they should enjoy. They are citizens just like men and deserve the right of expression. Human rights are; therefore, very vital in the society, and everyone should ensure that they practise them effectively19. On the other hand, private law facilitates the various activities of equal and free citizens. This part of civil law involves the relationship among individuals. It comprises of the law of contract, law of torts, family law, property law, succession and law of agency. It also involves commercial law, labour law, corporations, land competition law. It ensures that individuals adhere to the legal duties that they owe to one another. This law regulates and administers various relationships among individuals and associations. It implies the part of law that the government has administered between citizen and a citizen, or the one concerned with defining, enforcing, and regulating of rights both people are private individuals. For people to carry out their daily activities without conflict and misunderstanding, they must follow private law20. Private law dictates the behaviour of individual to other individuals in the society so that people exist harmoniously. Where human rights protect the various fundamental rights of citizens from the state, private law ensures that individuals have the freedom to carry out their daily activities appropriately. It governs how different individuals should relate in cases where they are associating. The two have different purposes and people, therefore, should not confuse them. Private law is tremendously valuable in the society as it offers appropriate responses to the problems of the citizens21. It ensures security, justice, and freedom to the fundamental rights of the citizens. Family law is one division of private law, and deals with the essential lives of people in details. This law deals with the normal economic activities that people involve in on a daily basis. The activities involve movement of goods, capital, and services. This law also covers broadly issues of inheritance in families to minimize the chances of conflict where an issue concerning inheritance of property arises22. The law of the contract is another division of private law that exists alongside the various doctrines of tort, equity, restitution, and statute. The obligations in the law of the contract are self-imposed whereas those in restitution, tort, statute, and equity undergo externally imposition. The law of contract governs breach of contract, and negligent misstatement where individuals involve in an agreement. Restitution imposes obligations to restore the unjust gains, which might have taken place. We adopt restitution doctrines where a contract is unenforceable, but justice provides the remedy to the plaintiff. The law imposes obligation today to prevent people from unjust enrichment in cases of defined circumstances23. These guide people in their normal operations of their daily lives. Without this law, there would be cases of unfairness in the various businesses that people involve in on a daily basis. It is the role of the state to ensure that people know the differences between the various laws that guide the activities and transactions between individuals. This awareness is particularly beneficial since it will govern the association between different individuals, hence making them come into conclusion. The state has a role to ensure that the citizens acquire the necessary education regarding these laws that relationships between citizens24. Private law plays a vital role in regulating relationships among private parties. The norms of private law govern the relationship of private parties. The private law courts have a duty to develop private law in a knowledgeable manner that is entirely consistent with the laid down fundamental rights. When people apply private law systematically, it ensures that there is peace, and stability that the members of the society need to carry out their economic and social activities. The government ensures that people follow the laws consistently to ensure that there is fairness and equal treatment to all members of society. Through this, state shapes the moral standards of the people, ensure that peace prevails, facilitating changes that are orderly, provide a basis for compromise, facilitate planning, and maximize the freedom of individuals25. Law is a body of enforceable principles and rules that govern the conduct of behaviours and activities. The state enforces law for the well-being of all the people in the society. Enforcement is a critical role that the government plays and worth appreciation by all individuals. Human rights and private law are substantial areas of concern in law that all people should have absolute awareness in since they are the most important. The two are the principal laws that guide ones daily activities26. All people should have complete awareness of the various rights that they entitled to so that they appreciate the role of a government in their respective states. The state should ensure that all the citizens acquire the basic requirements of living that the human rights clearly show. Some of these rights are vital for human survival and, therefore, very critical in a person living. Private law is also supremely valuable as it governs the relationships among individuals27. Human beings need rules to guide them where they offend one another so that they adopt appropriate actions to solve conflict. Human beings are prone to errors, and hence people have to follow formulated rules to govern their interactions. One should not confuse private law and human rights since they are different. Both of them are, however, tremendously valuable and worth giving sincere consideration since advocate for smooth association and living28. Bibliography A. 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Teubner, George, “Breaking Frames: The Global Interplay of Legal and Social Systems”, American Journal of Comparative Law, 1997, pp. 149-169, at p. 157. Read More