Naturaleza y caracteristicas de los derechos humanos

Summary

The lecture explains the nature and characteristics of human rights, the duties they impose on the State, and how human rights differ from fundamental or constitutional rights.

Nature of human rights

Human rights are fundamental rights and freedoms that people need to live with dignity. They belong to every person simply because they are human.

They are inherent to human dignity and do not depend on a State granting or recognizing them. Nor do they depend on a person’s nationality or culture. State recognition is nevertheless important because it can make rights legally binding and provide mechanisms to protect and enforce them.

Human rights have three dimensions:

• Ethical: They concern how people should treat one another.
• Political: They require recognition and fulfillment by the State.
• Legal: Recognition in law makes them binding on countries.

Main characteristics of human rights

The lecturer describes six characteristics:

1. Universal: They belong to all people, without distinctions such as race, sex, color, or economic status.
2. Irrevocable or irreversible: Once recognized, they should not be repealed or eliminated. Although the auto-generated subtitles render the term as “interrogative,” the explanation indicates this meaning.
3. Inalienable: They cannot be taken away from a person. For example, someone cannot lawfully deny another person the ability to control their own resources.
4. Imprescriptible: They do not expire or cease to exist over time.
5. Indivisible: They cannot be separated into isolated parts or selectively honored while others are neglected.
6. Interdependent: Rights support and rely on one another. For instance, education cannot be adequately secured while health is neglected, and denying the right to life undermines the enjoyment of other rights.

Obligations of the State

Human rights impose duties on the State; they are not solely matters for individuals to claim or fulfill themselves. The lecture emphasizes that the State is broader than the government: it includes a country’s governmental, legal, and social apparatus.

The State must:

• Respect human rights and avoid violating them.
• Protect and safeguard people’s rights.
• Guarantee that people can effectively enjoy them.
• Promote and fulfill rights, including by creating the conditions needed to exercise them.

For example, fulfilling the right to work does not simply mean leaving everyone to find work alone. The State should help create conditions for decent, stable, and fairly paid employment, including through labor legislation.

State power is also limited by human rights. It cannot be exercised arbitrarily or against people’s rights; it must operate within rules and include mechanisms that protect and guarantee those rights. The lecturer notes that legal claims for human-rights violations can be brought against the State, including before international bodies.

Human rights and fundamental rights

• Human rights are the broad category of rights inherent to people, whether or not a particular State has formally recognized them.
• Fundamental rights, also called constitutional rights, are human rights that a State has recognized in its Constitution or another legal document. They also constrain the State’s power.

The lecturer uses access to oxygen and sufficient, safe water as examples of rights that may be considered essential to life even if they are not explicitly listed in a Constitution.

Speakers and sources mentioned

• Speaker: The lecturer, identified in the video metadata as Lic. Reynaldo Antonio Rivas.
• Sources or authorities cited by the lecturer:
  • Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
  • The Inter-American Court
  • An unnamed Spanish philosopher
  • Human-rights literature, jurisprudence, and legislation in general