UNDERSTANDING CULTURE,

SOCIETY AND POLITICS

Module 7: HUMAN
DIGNITY, RIGHTS AND THE
COMMON GOOD
  Respect and acknowledgement of an
individual person, a human being.
 An idea that a person has an innate
HUMAN right to be valued, respected and
treated well
DIGNITY  It is something that can’t be taken
away, each person must be free from
slavery, manipulation and
exploitation.
 1. HUMILIATION –referes to acts that humiliate or
diminish the self-worth of a person or a group.

Violations 2. DEGREDATION- acts that degrade the value of

human being; selling oneself to slavery; diminishes the

against importance or value of all human beings.

3. DEHUMANIZATION- acts that strip a

Human person or a group of their human characteristics; describing
or treating people as animals or as a lower type of human

Dignity beings

4. OBJECTIFICATION- this aspect refers to

treating a person as an instrument or as a means to achieve
some other goal.
Human Are natural rights of all human
beings whatever their
nationality, religion, ethnicity,
Rights sex, language and color.
 The sum of those conditions of
social life which allow social
groups and their individual
Common members, relatively thorough
and ready access to their own
Good fulfilment.
 Key Elements
-Public Order, Prosperity and Intellectual,
Spiritual & Moral Values
 UNITED
NATIONS
 It outlines the entitlements of all individuals to
UNIVERSAL human dignity and the rights we possess that
DECLARATION are important elements in pursuing the
OF HUMAN common good.
RIGHTS
(UDHR)
  Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the
equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human
family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in
the world,
 Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have
resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the

UDHR conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which

human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief
and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as

Preamble the highest aspiration of the common people,

 Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to
have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny
and oppression, that human rights should be protected by
the rule of law,
 Whereas it is essential to promote the development of
friendly relations between nations,
  Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter
reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and
worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and
women and have determined to promote social progress and better
standards of life in larger freedom,
 Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-
operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal

UDHR
respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental
freedoms,
 Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of

Preamble the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,
 Now, therefore, The General Assembly, Proclaims this Universal
Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement
for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and
every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind,
shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these
rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and
international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and
observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves
and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.
  We, the sovereign Filipino people,
imploring the aid of Almighty God, in
order to build a just and humane society,
THE 1987 and establish a Government that shall
CONSTITUTION embody our ideals and aspirations,
OF THE promote the common good, conserve
REPUBLIC OF and develop our patrimony, and secure to
ourselves and our posterity, the blessings
THE of independence and democracy under
PHILIPPINES – the rule of law and a regime of truth,
PREAMBLE justice, freedom, love, equality, and
peace, do ordain and promulgate this
Constitution.
 All human beings are born free
and equal in dignity and rights.
Article They are endowed with reason
1 and conscience and should act
towards one another in a spirit of
brotherhood.
  Everyone is entitled to all the rights and
freedoms set forth in this Declaration,
without distinction of any kind, such as
race, colour, sex, language, religion,
political or other opinion, national or
Article social origin, property, birth or other
status. Furthermore, no distinction shall
2 be made on the basis of the political,
jurisdictional or international status of
the country or territory to which a person
belongs, whether it be independent,
trust, non-self-governing or under any
other limitation of sovereignty.
Article Everyone has the right to life,
3 liberty and security of person.
 No one shall be held in slavery
Article or servitude; slavery and the
4 slave trade shall be prohibited
in all their forms.
 No one shall be subjected to
Article torture or to cruel, inhuman
5 or degrading treatment or
punishment.
 Everyone has the right
Article to recognition
6 everywhere as a person
before the law.
 All are equal before the law and
are entitled without any
discrimination to equal
Article protection of the law. All are
entitled to equal protection
7 against any discrimination in
violation of this Declaration and
against any incitement to such
discrimination.
 Everyone has the right to an
effective remedy by the
Article competent national tribunals
for acts violating the
8 fundamental rights granted
him by the constitution or by
law.
 No one shall be subjected
Article to arbitrary arrest,
9 detention or exile.
  Everyone is entitled in full equality to
a fair and public hearing by an
Article independent and impartial tribunal,
10 in the determination of his rights
and obligations and of any criminal
charge against him.
  Everyone charged with a penal offence has the
right to be presumed innocent until proved
guilty according to law in a public trial at which
he has had all the guarantees necessary for his

Article defense.
 No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence
11 on account of any act or omission which did not
constitute a penal offence, under national or
international law, at the time when it was
committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be
imposed than the one that was applicable at
the time the penal offence was committed.
  No one shall be subjected to
arbitrary interference with his
privacy, family, home or
Article correspondence, nor to attacks upon
12 his honour and reputation. Everyone
has the right to the protection of the
law against such interference or
attacks.
 Everyone has the right to
freedom of movement and
residence within the borders
Article of each state.
13 Everyone has the right to
leave any country, including
his own, and to return to his
country.
  Everyone has the right to seek and
to enjoy in other countries asylum
from persecution.
Article  This right may not be invoked in the
14 case of prosecutions genuinely
arising from non-political crimes or
from acts contrary to the purposes
and principles of the United Nations.
 Everyone has the right to a
nationality.
Article No one shall be arbitrarily
15 deprived of his nationality nor
denied the right to change his
nationality.
  Men and women of full age, without any
limitation due to race, nationality or
religion, have the right to marry and to
found a family. They are entitled to equal
rights as to marriage, during marriage
Article and at its dissolution.
 Marriage shall be entered into only with
16 the free and full consent of the intending
spouses.
 The family is the natural and
fundamental group unit of society and is
entitled to protection by society and the
State.
 Everyone has the right to
own property alone as well
Article as in association with
17 others.
No one shall be arbitrarily
deprived of his property.
  Everyone has the right to freedom of
thought, conscience and religion;
Article this right includes freedom to
18 change his religion or belief, and
freedom, either alone or in
community with others and in public
or private, to manifest his religion or
belief in teaching, practice, worship
and observance.
  Everyone has the right to freedom of
opinion and expression; this right
Article includes freedom to hold opinions
without interference and to seek,
19 receive and impart information and
ideas through any media and
regardless of frontiers.
 Everyone has the right to
freedom of peaceful assembly
Article and association.
20 No one may be compelled to
belong to an association.
  Everyone has the right to take part in the
government of his country, directly or through
freely chosen representatives.
 Everyone has the right of equal access to public
Article service in his country.
 The will of the people shall be the basis of the
21 authority of government; this will shall be
expressed in periodic and genuine elections
which shall be by universal and equal suffrage
and shall be held by secret vote or by
equivalent free voting procedures.
  Everyone, as a member of society,
has the right to social security and is
entitled to realization, through
national effort and international co-
Article operation and in accordance with
22 the organization and resources of
each State, of the economic, social
and cultural rights indispensable for
his dignity and the free development
of his personality.
  Everyone has the right to work, to free choice
of employment, to just and favourable
conditions of work and to protection against
unemployment.
 Everyone, without any discrimination, has the
Article right to equal pay for equal work.
 Everyone who works has the right to just and
23 favourable remuneration ensuring for himself
and his family an existence worthy of human
dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by
other means of social protection.
 Everyone has the right to form and to join trade
unions for the protection of his interests.
 Everyone has the right to
Article rest and leisure, including
24 reasonable limitation of
working hours and periodic
holidays with pay.
  Everyone has the right to a standard of living
adequate for the health and well-being of
himself and of his family, including food,
clothing, housing and medical care and
necessary social services, and the right to
Article security in the event of unemployment,
sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or

25 other lack of livelihood in circumstances

beyond his control.
 Motherhood and childhood are entitled to
special care and assistance. All children,
whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy
the same social protection.
  Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be
free, at least in the elementary and fundamental
stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory.
Technical and professional education shall be made
generally available and higher education shall be
equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
Article  Education shall be directed to the full development of
the human personality and to the strengthening of

26 respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It

shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship
among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall
further the activities of the United Nations for the
maintenance of peace.
 Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of
education that shall be given to their children.
  Everyone has the right freely to
participate in the cultural life of the
community, to enjoy the arts and to

Article share in scientific advancement and its

benefits.

27  Everyone has the right to the protection

of the moral and material interests
resulting from any scientific, literary or
artistic production of which he is the
author.
 Everyone is entitled to a
social and international order
Article in which the rights and
28 freedoms set forth in this
Declaration can be fully
realized.
  Everyone has duties to the community in which
alone the free and full development of his
personality is possible.
 In the exercise of his rights and freedoms,
everyone shall be subject only to such
Article limitations as are determined by law solely for
the purpose of securing due recognition and

29 respect for the rights and freedoms of others

and of meeting the just requirements of
morality, public order and the general welfare
in a democratic society.
 These rights and freedoms may in no case be
exercised contrary to the purposes and
principles of the United Nations.
 Nothing in this Declaration may
be interpreted as implying for
Article any State, group or person any
right to engage in any activity or
30 to perform any act aimed at the
destruction of any of the rights
and freedoms set forth herein.