Human Rights, Social Rights and Civil Rights - Essay Example

Not a day passes by when one has not heard of the term human rights, especially in the news. If one is to be asked of its definition, they would probably say that it refers to the rights that a human being has or rather is allowed to enjoy within a given society. Human rights, however, can be defined as international norms that help to protect all individuals everywhere from severe social, legal and political abuses (Nickel 2006). Other rights that come with human rights include social rights which refer to rights brought about as a result of a social contract (Nickel 2006).

Social rights ensure that every individual is afforded equal conditions in which they can afford to meet their basic needs. On the other hand, civil or political rights are those rights guaranteed to individuals by the Constitution and legislation (Nickel 2006). These particular rights are inclusive of freedom from certain types of discrimination as well as freedom of speech (Nickel 2006).ESSAYDifferences and Similarities between Human rights, Social rights and Civil/Political RightsThere are a number of differences that exist between human rights, social rights and civil/political rights, for instance, while human rights are rights accorded to a human being from birth, social rights are those guarantees given to a human being in the course of their lifetime, such as the ability to meet their basic needs (Nickel 2006).

Civil or political rights, on the other hand, are different from the two rights in that these solely focus on legal rights awarded to an individual. They are rights afforded to those individual sharing a civil connection (Nickel 2006).There are also a number of similarities between human rights, social rights and civil/political rights, for instance, the fact that all these rights are concerned with ideas of equality and ensure access to essential social as well as economic opportunities, services and goods (Nickel 2006).

In other words, they ensure that human beings enjoy the basic rights accorded to them. In addition, these rights focus on the provision of a healthy environment, development of peace as well as humanitarian assistance (Nickel 2006).CONCLUSIONAs aforementioned, the terms human rights, social rights and civil/political rights have often been mentioned by the media as a way of bringing awareness to the public. The news has talked about how human rights have been violated especially where social and political rights are concerned, for instance where certain individuals have been discriminated either at the workplace or place of residence as a result of their nationality, race or background.