Human Rights Law and Practice Notes | LL.B. (Three Years) Semester 4 | SPPU | munotes

Contents

Module 1 Introduction

1. What a Human Right Is: Concept and Definition 1
2. The Characteristics of Human Rights 6
3. Why Human Rights Are Needed 11
4. The Universality of Human Rights 16
5. Cultural Relativism and the Answer to It 21
6. The Limitations on Human Rights 26
7. Rights and Duties: The State, the Citizen and Society 31
8. Fundamental Duties 37
9. The Natural Rights Theory 42
10. The Utilitarian Theory of Rights 48
11. The Idealist Theory of Rights 54
12. The Socialist Theory of Rights 60
13. The Positivist Theory of Rights 66
14. Human Rights in Ancient India 72
15. Human Rights in Medieval India 77
16. Human Rights in Modern India 82
17. Human Rights in the Western Tradition 88
18. Magna Carta and the English Tradition 93
19. The American Declaration of Independence 98
20. The United States Bill of Rights 103
21. The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen 108
22. The Normative Foundation of International Human Rights 114
23. The United Nations and the Birth of the Human Rights System 120
24. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Drafting and Structure 126
25. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: The Rights It Declares 131
26. The Legal Status of the Universal Declaration 137
27. The International Bill of Human Rights 142
28. India and the Two Covenants 147
29. Comparing the Three Generations 154

Module 2 First Generation Human Rights

1. The First Generation: Civil and Political Rights 159
2. The ICCPR: Scheme and Obligations 164
3. The ICCPR: The Civil Rights 170
4. The ICCPR: The Political Rights and Freedoms 176
5. The ICCPR: Equality, Minorities and Derogation in Emergency 182
6. The First Optional Protocol: Individual Communications 187
7. The Second Optional Protocol: Abolition of the Death Penalty 193
8. The Constitution of India as a Human Rights Instrument 198
9. Fundamental Rights: The Right to Equality 204
10. Fundamental Rights: The Right to Freedom 210
11. Fundamental Rights: Article 21 and the Rights Read Into It 216
12. Fundamental Rights: Protection against Arrest and Detention 222
13. Fundamental Rights: The Right against Exploitation 229
14. Fundamental Rights: Freedom of Religion 235
15. Fundamental Rights: Cultural and Educational Rights of Minorities 241
16. Fundamental Rights: The Right to Constitutional Remedies 247
17. Fundamental Rights and Human Rights Distinguished 253

Module 3 Second Generation Human Rights

1. The Second Generation: Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 258
2. The ICESCR: Scheme and Progressive Realisation 263
3. The ICESCR: The Rights It Guarantees 269
4. The Directive Principles of State Policy 275
5. Directive Principles and Fundamental Rights: The Relationship 281
6. The International Labour Organization 288
7. The ILO's Core Conventions and Their Human Rights Content 294
8. UNESCO and the Rights to Education, Science and Culture 299
9. UNICEF and the Rights of the Child 309
10. The World Health Organization and the Right to Health 317
11. The UN Sustainable Development Goals 329

Module 4 Third And Fourth Generation Human Rights

1. The Third Generation: Solidarity Rights 337
2. The Right to Food and the National Food Security Act 342
3. The Right to a Healthy Environment in International Law 346
4. The Right to a Healthy Environment in India 354
5. Indian Environmental Legislation as Human Rights Law 365
6. The Genome and Human Dignity 377
7. The Genome: Rights of the Person Concerned 383
8. Bodily Integrity and Intervention Without Consent 389
9. Euthanasia, the Living Will and Dying with Dignity 396
10. Abortion and the Law: The Sanhita's Offence and the MTP Act's Exception 403
11. The MTP Act: When a Pregnancy May Be Terminated 411
12. The MTP Act Before the Courts: Reproductive Autonomy 420
13. Sex Selection, and Why the PCPNDT Act Was Made 429
14. Female Foeticide and Infanticide 435

Module 5 Human Rights of Vulnerable and Disadvantaged Groups

1. What Makes a Group Disadvantaged 441
2. Disadvantage, Vulnerability and Marginalisation 445
3. Women as a Disadvantaged Group 449
4. Women's Rights in Indian Law: Domestic Violence and the Shared Household 454
5. Sexual Harassment at the Workplace: Vishaka and the POSH Act 463
6. CEDAW in Indian Law: From Vishaka to the Statute Book 475
7. Children's Rights in Indian Law 483
8. The Rights of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes 493
9. Tribal Rights and Development: Displacement, Forests and Consent 501
10. The Rights of Older Persons in International Law 509
11. Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens 516
12. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 524
13. The CRPD: Reasonable Accommodation and the Duty of an Employer 532
14. Disability Rights in Indian Law: The RPwD Act 2016 540
15. LGBT Rights in International Law 548
16. LGBT Rights in India: NALSA, Navtej and the Transgender Persons Act 554
17. Refugees: The 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol 564
18. Non-Refoulement and the Core Protection of a Refugee 571
19. Refugees and Aliens in India 579
20. Human Rights of Stateless Persons: Who Is One 590
21. India and Statelessness: the Citizenship Act 595
22. The Judiciary and the Unorganised Worker 601
23. The HIV and AIDS Act: Discrimination and Consent 605
24. The ITPA Offences: Brothels, Earnings, Procuring, Detaining and Soliciting 611
25. Trafficking and Sex Work Before the Courts, and the Wider Law 619
26. Domestic Workers, Migrant Workers and Prisoners as Vulnerable Groups 627

Module 6 Enforcement Mechanism of International Human Rights - Constitution

1. The UN Human Rights Machinery: Charter Bodies 636
2. The UN Human Rights Machinery: Treaty Bodies and the High Commissioner 642
3. The Human Rights Committee and State Reporting 647
4. The ICESCR: The Committee and the Optional Protocol 652
5. CEDAW: Scheme and Obligations 657
6. CEDAW: The Committee, the Optional Protocol and India's Declarations 664
7. The Convention on the Rights of the Child: Scheme 671
8. The CRC: The Four General Principles and the Rights 677
9. The CRC: The Optional Protocols and the Committee 684
10. Non-Governmental Organizations in the Protection of Human Rights 691
11. The European Regional Arrangement: The Convention 700
12. The European Court of Human Rights 708
13. The American Regional Arrangement 718
14. The African Regional Arrangement 729
15. Asia and the Absence of a Regional Arrangement 738

Module 7 Human Rights Enforcement In India

1. The Protection of Human Rights Act 1993: Scheme and Definitions 746
2. The National Human Rights Commission: Constitution and Appointment 752
3. The NHRC: Functions and Powers 758
4. The NHRC: Procedure, the Armed Forces Proviso and the One-Year Bar 768
5. State Human Rights Commissions and Human Rights Courts 777
6. The National Commission for Women 786
7. The Commissions for Protection of Child Rights, and the Children's Courts 794
8. The National Commission for Minorities 800
9. The National Commission for Scheduled Castes 808
10. The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes 816
11. The Role of the Judiciary: Public Interest Litigation 824
12. The Role of the Judiciary: Expanding Article 21 833
13. The Role of the Judiciary: Compensation as a Public Law Remedy 845
14. The Role of the Judiciary: International Law in Indian Courts 853

Module 8 Significance Of Human Rights Education

1. Human Rights Education in International Law 862
2. Human Rights Education in India 866
3. The UGC and the Universities in Human Rights Education 870