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Class & Section : B.A.LL.B/ BBA LL.B VII Semester

Subject Name : Human Rights Law

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Subject Code : LLB 407
Faculty Name : Dr. Ramesh kumar

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Unit-IV
Group Rights

a. Prisoners
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It is established that conviction for a crime does not reduce the person into a non- person, so he is
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entitled to all the rights, which are generally available to the non- prisoner. On the other hand, it
cannot be denied that he is not entitled for any absolute right, which is available to a non- prisoner
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citizen but subject to some legal restrictions. The Supreme Court of United States as well as the
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Indian Supreme Court held that prisoner is a human being, a natural person and also a

legal person. Being a prisoner he does not cease to be a human being, natural person or legal
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person. Conviction for a crime does not reduce the person into a non person, whose rights are
subject to the whim of the prison administration and therefore, the imposition of any major
punishment within the prison system is conditional upon the absence of procedural safeguards.
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The courts which send offenders into prison, have an onerous duty to ensure that during detention,
detenues have freedom from torture and follow the words of William Black that “Prisons are built
with stones of Law”. So, when human rights are harassed behind the bars, constitutional justice
comes forward to uphold the law.

RIGHTS AVAILABLE TO PRISONERS

● Right to life and personal liberty: The Hon’ble Supreme Court has adopted annotation of
Article 21 and expanded connotation of “life” given by Field J. that “life means more than
mere animal existence. The inhibition against its deprivation extends to all those limbs and
faculties by which life is enjoyed. The provision equally prohibits the mutilation of the
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body by the amputation of an arm or leg, or the putting out of an eye or the destruction, of
any other organ of the body through which the soulcommunicates with the other
world.” Right to live is not restricted to mere animal existence. It means something more

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than just physical survival.

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● Right to live with human dignity : The Supreme Court held that right to life is one of the
basic human rights, guaranteed to every person by Article 21 and not even the State has
authority to violate it. A prisoner does not cease to be a human being even when lodged
in jail; he continues to enjoy all his fundamental rights including the right to life. It is no
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more open to debate that convicts are not wholly denude of their fundamental rights.
However, a prisoner’s liberty is in the very nature of things circumscribed by the very fact
of his confinement. His interest in the limited liberty left to him is the more substantial.
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● Right to speedy trial: The Supreme Court held that right to speedy trial is a part of the
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fundamental right envisaged under Article 21 of the Constitution. Delay in disposal of

cases is denial of justice, so the court is expected to adopt necessary steps for expeditious
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trial and quick disposal of cases. The Hon’ble Supreme Court has laid down detailed
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guidelines for speedy trial of an accused in a criminal case but it declined to fix any time
limit for trial of offences. The burden lies on the prosecution to justify and explain the
delay. The court held that the right to speedy trial flowing from Article 21, is available to
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accused at all the stages, namely, the stage of investigation, inquiry, trial, appeal, revision
and re-trial. The court comes to conclusion in the interest of natural justice that when the
right to speedy trial of an accused has been infringed the charges of the conviction shall be
quashed.

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b. Women and Children

Human rights are what people need to live with dignity and enjoy freedom. Human rights are the
basic rights and freedoms that every person in the world should have.

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Everyone has the right to:
● The right to life and liberty

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● Freedom of expression

● Equality before the law

● The right to be free from discrimination &

● The right to participate in culture
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● The right to education
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Women and girls have the same fundamental human rights as men and boys have. These rights
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are set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and more explicitly referred to in the
Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Beijing
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Platform for Action.

CEDAW, is the principal international instrument on the rights of women. The Convention’s focus
is on eliminating all forms of discrimination against women so that substantive equality, which
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requires equality in practice and the elimination of structural forms of inequality, can be achieved.

The CEDAW describes the three obligations that are central to state parties’ efforts

to eliminate discrimination against women as:

1. To ensure that there is no direct or indirect discrimination in their laws and that women are
protected against discrimination – whether committed by public authorities, the judiciary,
organisations, enterprises or private individuals – in the public as well as the private
spheres, by competent tribunals as well as by sanctions and other remedies.
2. To improve the de facto position of women through concrete and effective policies and
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programmes.
3. To address prevailing gender relations and the persistence of gender-based stereotypes that
affect women, not only through individual acts by individuals but also in the law, andlegal
and societal structures and institutions.

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Similarly, children are also able to enjoy their rights, but they remain one of the most vulnerable

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groups in our society. There are still significant numbers of children who experience violence and
neglect, poverty and poor health, and barriers to the full enjoyment of their right to education.

Children and young people (all human beings under the age of 18) have the same basic human

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rights as adults. Children also have specific human rights that recognise their special need for
protection.
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Children’s rights are commonly viewed as falling into three categories:
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1. Provision rights: include the right to an adequate standard of living, the right to free
education, the right to adequate health resources and the right to legal and social services.
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2. Protection rights: include protection from abuse and neglect, protection from bullying,
protection from discrimination, and safety within the justice system.
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3. Participation rights: include the right to freedom of expression and the right to participate
in public life.
Children’s rights are enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
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(UNCROC). This is one of the key international human rights treaties and is the most widely
accepted of the human rights instruments.
c. Indigenous People
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) was adopted
by the General Assembly on Thursday, 13 September 2007, by a majority of 144 states in favour,
4 votes against (Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States) and 11 abstentions
(Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burundi, Colombia, Georgia, Kenya, Nigeria, Russian
Federation, Samoa and Ukraine). The work towards this declaration can be seen as far as in 1923
and 1925 by the works of Haudenosaunee Chief Deskaheh and Māori T.W. Ratana who attempted

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to bring issues of Canada and New Zealand failure to uphold treaties to the League of Nations
[precursor to the United Nations].

In May 2016 Canada officially removed its objector status to UNDRIP, almost a decade after it

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was adopted by the General Assembly. By now also the other 3 objectors have, to various

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degrees, turned their vote.

While as a General Assembly Declaration it is not a legally binding instrument under international
law, according to a UN press release it does "represent the dynamic development of international
legal norms and it reflects the commitment of the UN's member states to move in certain
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directions"; the UN describes it as setting "an important standard for the treatment of indigenous
peoples that will undoubtedly be a significant tool towards eliminating human rights violations
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against the planet's 370 million indigenous people and assisting them in combating discrimination
and marginalisation."
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Due to the past and ongoing violence and abuse of Indigenous individuals and peoples, the UN
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created this non-legally binding declaration as an aspiration for how Indigenous individuals and
peoples should be treated. The Declaration sets out the individual and collective rights of
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Indigenous peoples, as well as their rights to culture, identity, language, employment, health,
education and other issues. It also "emphasizes the rights of Indigenous peoples to maintain and
strengthen their own institutions, cultures and traditions, and to pursue their development in
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keeping with their own needs and aspirations". It "prohibits discrimination against indigenous
peoples", and it "promotes their full and effective participation in all matters that concern them
and their right to remain distinct and to pursue their own visions of economic and social
development". The goal of the Declaration is to encourage countries to work alongside indigenous
peoples to solve global issues, like development, multicultural democracy and decentralization.
According to Article 31, there is a major emphasis that the indigenous peoples will be able to
protect their cultural heritage and other aspects of their culture and tradition in order to preserve
their heritage from over controlling nation-states.

The elaboration of this Declaration had already been recommended by the Vienna Declaration and
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Programme of Action.

This declaration is a resolution, meaning it is not a law bearing document. Indigenous people are
not considered a country [nation - state] and do not have right to international law protection
through the international court of justice. Article 40 states that Indigenous peoples have right to

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fair procedures for the resolution of conflicts and dispute with countries or other parties, because

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Indigenous people cannot use the International court of justice, UNDRIP has no indication of
which judicial power indigenous peoples are to bring disputes to.

The Declaration is structured as a United Nations resolution, with 23 preamble clauses and 46
articles. In most articles, an aspiration for how the State should promote and protect the rights of
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indigenous people is included (see Provision for further explanation). Major themes of the articles
include:
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● Rights of self-determination of indigenous individuals and peoples (Articles 1 - 8; 33
-34)
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● The difference is between the individual and people’s group

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● Rights of indigenous individuals and people to protect their culture through practices,
languages, education, media, and religion (Articles 9 - 15, 16, 25, and 31)
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● Asserts the indigenous peoples’ right to own type of governance and to economic
development (Articles 17 - 21, 35 -37)
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● Health rights (Article 23 -24)

● Protection of subgroups ex. elderly, women, and children (Article 22)

● Land rights from ownership (including reparation, or return of land i.e. Article 10) to
environmental issues (Articles 26 -30, and 32)
● Dictates how this document should be understood in future
reference(Articles 38 - 46).

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d. Disabled Persons

Persons with disabilities face discrimination and barriers that restrict them from participating in

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society on an equal basis with others every day. They are denied their rights to be included in the

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general school system, to be employed, to live independently in the community, to move freely, to
vote, to participate in sport and cultural activities, to enjoy social protection, to access justice, to
choose medical treatment and to enter freely into legal commitments such as buying and selling
property.
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A disproportionate number of persons with disabilities live in developing countries, often
marginalized and in extreme poverty.
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The protection guaranteed in other human rights treaties, and grounded in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, should apply to all. Persons with disabilities have, however,
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remained largely ‘invisible’, often side-lined in the rights debate and unable to enjoy the full range
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of human rights.

In recent years, there has been a revolutionary change in approach, globally, to close the protection
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gap and ensure that persons with disabilities enjoy the same standards of equality, rights and
dignity as everyone else.
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The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which was adopted in 2006 and entered
into force in 2008, signalled a ‘paradigm shift’ from traditional charity-oriented, medical-based
approaches to disability to one based on human rights.

Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, said, “The celebration of
diversity and the empowerment of the individual are essential human rights messages. The
Convention embodies and clearly conveys these messages by envisaging a fully active role in
society for person with disabilities.”

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The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities offers sufficient standards of protection
for the civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights of persons with disabilities on the basis
of inclusion, equality and non- discrimination. It makes clear that persons with disabilities are

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entitled to live independently in their communities, to make their own choices andto play an active

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role in society.

The Optional Protocol on the Convention came into force at the same time as the Convention. It
gives the Committee of experts additional capacities. The Committee can accept and examine
complaints filed by individuals, and where there is evidence of grave and systemic violations of
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human rights, it can launch inquiries. The Convention and its Optional Protocol received
immediate and wide support from the international community. Their adoption has been welcomed
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as evidence of a real commitment to a truly inclusive and universal human rights framework.

The Committee of experts

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The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), a group of 18 independent
experts (currently, most of them persons with disabilities), oversees promotion and
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implementation of the Convention. The experts are nominated by individual countries and then
elected by the States that have ratified the Convention. All States are obliged to report regularly to
the Committee on how the rights embodied in the Convention are being implemented in each of
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their countries. The Committee in turn, makes comments and suggestions for further progress,
based on each of the reports. Civil society organizations and national human rights institutions also
contribute to the reviews.

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The Committee is responsible for interpreting the Convention, and to that purpose issues General
Comments, which offer clarification and guidance on specific articles.

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e. Senior Citizens

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The International Bill of Rights As mentioned earlier, human rights are universal. They apply to
all human beings everywhere, regardless of their sex, age, religious affiliation, disability, sexual
orientation and other distinctions. Thus, the human rights of all people, including older persons are
tacitly protected in the Bill of Rights. Although it is technically a declaration, the UDHR (part of
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the Bill of Rights) is generally considered customary law, and thus legally binding. Of particular
significance to old age is Article 25(1) of the UDHR that states that everyone has the right to
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security and a ‘standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family’.
The two Conventions, the ICESCR and the ICCPR, offer generic protection of cultural, economic,
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social, civil and political rights. For older persons, important specific rights in the ICESCR are
the work- related rights (Articles 6–7) and the rights to social security (Article 9), to an adequate
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standard of living (Article 11), to education (Article 13) and to the highest attainable standard of
physical and mental health (Article 12). The ICESCR itself does not contain any direct references
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to older persons. In 1995, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR)
released General Comment No. 6 on ‘the economic, social and cultural rights of older persons’.
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The comment provides a legal interpretation of how the ICESCR ought to apply to older persons.
It explains that the omission of ‘age’ specifically as an illegal ground of discrimination was not
intentional, but occurred because when the ICESCR and ICCPR were adopted, ‘the problem of
demographic ageing was not as evident or as pressing as it is now’. In the same committee’s 2009
General Comment No. 20, ‘Non-discrimination in economic, social and cultural rights’, paragraph
29 holds that ‘Age is a prohibited ground of discrimination in several contexts’. The CESCR
emphasises the need to address discrimination against older persons in finding work, in
professional training, and against those living in povertywith unequal access to pensions because
of their place of residency. In the ICCPR, ‘participation rights’ of special concern for older
persons are the commitment of states to ensure freedom of
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expression, assembly and association (Articles 18–19, 21). Article 25 recognises the right of all
to participate in the affairs of their own country. Article 26 states ‘All persons are equal before the
law and are entitled without any discrimination to the equal protection of the law’. The article
includes race, colour, sex, language, religion, origin ‘or other status’ as prohibited grounds of

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discrimination. ‘Age’ is not mentioned explicitly, yet might be said to be included in the ‘and other

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status’.
f. Refugees
The concept of refugee protection is inseparable from the notion of human rights. In other words,
we can say that the contemporary refugee law evolved out of human rights law and considered to
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be a part of international humanitarian law. The international legal regime for the protection of
refugees, whose basis is provided by the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugee and
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the 1967 Protocol, attempts to guarantee against violations or, at any rate, these conventions
prescribe duties and obligations which are incumbent upon states in their treatment of asylum-
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seekers and refugees. Approximately two- third of the world's countries are state parties to the
1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol.
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Convention relating to the Status of Refugees 1951 and its 1967 Protocol
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Once a person has been recognized as a refugee under the provisions of Convention, he is entitled
to residen e and a number of human rights without discrimination. The rights enjoyed by refugees
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under this convention cover wide and diverse areas, such as religious, economic, social,
educational, cultural, fiscal and civil rights etc. The 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol
constitute the most important codification efforts of the rights of refugees.

The 1951 convention provides the following rights to refugees

● The Convention permits the determination of the personal status of a refugee by law of the
country of his domicile or, if he has no domicile, by the law of the country of his residence.
● The Convention recognizes the rights of acquisition of movable and immovable property
through different modes, at least equivalent to the rights accorded to aliens in the same

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circumstances.
● The Convention guarantees the same protection of industrial property such a s inventions,
designs or models, trademarks, trade names, and of rights in literary, artistic and scientific
work, of refugees in the country of habitual residence as is accorded by that country to its

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own national,

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● A refugee shall have right to free access to courts and to legal assistance.

● A refugee shall have regarding association with nonpolitical and non-profit making
associations and trade unions.
● The Convention requires the application of its provisions to refugees withoutdiscrimination
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on the basis of race , religion or country of origin.
● The refugees are to be accorded a treatment, at least as favourable a s is accorded to the
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nationals. They are even given the freedom of religion and right to impart religious
education to children
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The Convention's refugee concept has been expanded in practice through the 1967 Protocol
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relating to the status of the refugee which extended its protection to such person irrespective of
nationality or geographical location, provided an International Bill of Rights, containing detailed
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provisions on the minimum standards of treatment of refugees. Thus the Convention of 1951 and
the Protocol of 1967 provide a legal basis for states for the treatment of refugees on their territories
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and for non-state parties; they serve as the international standard.

Sd/-
Dr. Ramesh Kumar

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