SOCIOLOGY Introduction to the Rights and Responsibilities of the Human Person

CCC 152. The movement towards the identification and proclamation of human rights is one of the most significant attempts to respond effectively to the inescapable demands of human dignity[302]. The Church sees in these rights the extraordinary opportunity that our modern times offer, through the affirmation of these rights, for more effectively recognizing human dignity and universally promoting it as a characteristic inscribed by God the Creator in his creature[303]. The Church's Magisterium has not failed to note the positive value of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations on 10 December 1948, which Pope John Paul II defined as “a true milestone on the path of humanity's moral progress”[304].

Human Rights A right that is believed to belong justifiably to every person Human Rights are essential and important because the recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family and of the human person is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. (UN DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS) Disregard and contempt for human rights results barbarous acts which have outraged the 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 the highest aspiration of the common people. (UN) The Catholic tradition teaches that human dignity can be protected and a healthy community can be achieved only if human rights are protected and responsibilities are met. (Catholic Social Doctrines)

Without the protection of the law granting these rights, there will be no peace because no respect for others and only selfish motives will prevail, resulting in tyranny, oppression and violation of human rights and human beings. With the Universal declaration on human rights by the UN, along with the Catholic Social Doctrines on human rights and responsibilities, we are protected against the selfish acts of one another, guided by the respect and responsibilities towards our fellowmen and through these are directed towards building a peaceful and united world In fact, the roots of human rights are to be found in the dignity that belongs to each human being[305]. (CCC) The ultimate source of human rights is not found in the mere will of human beings[307], in the reality of the State, in public powers, but in man himself and in God his Creator.

Universal because they are present in all human beings, without exception of time, place or subject. Inviolable insofar as “they are inherent in the human person and in human dignity”[309] and because “it would be vain to proclaim rights, if at the same time everything were not done to ensure the duty of respecting them by all people, everywhere, and for all people”[310]. Inalienable insofar as “no one can legitimately deprive another person, whoever they may be, of these rights, since this would do violence to their nature”[311].

Human Responsibilities With Human Rights grants us the power to live dignified and peaceful, and with this power it can only take effect if we do and follow the corresponding responsibilities that accompany it. Why do we have responsibilities accompanying these rights? It is because rights will not take place and will not take effect if we ourselves do not do something about it. One is that with these rights that we have, other people around us are also empowered by it and the number one responsibility as a person having human rights is to respect the rights of others, otherwise it will be useless.

In other words, every person has a fundamental right to life and a right to those things required for human decency. Corresponding to these rights are duties and responsibilities, to one another, to our families, and to the larger society. (Catholic Social Doctrine) In every move that we make which includes the society, it is inevitable that we affect other people around us, because we live in a society and that the society is composed of us. Due to this principle our responsibility to our fellowmen is great

c. Rights and duties 156. Inextricably connected to the topic of rights is the issue of the duties falling to men and women, which is given appropriate emphasis in the interventions of the Magisterium. The mutual complementarities between rights and duties — they are indissolubly linked — are recalled several times, above all in the human person who possesses them.[322] This bond also has a social dimension: “in human society to one man's right there corresponds a duty in all other persons: the duty, namely, of acknowledging and respecting the right in question”.[323] The Magisterium underlines the contradiction inherent in affirming rights without acknowledging corresponding responsibilities. “Those, therefore, who claim their own rights, yet altogether forget or neglect to carry out their respective duties, are people who build with one hand and destroy with the other”.[324]

ARTICLE 12 ON HUMAN RIGHTS Article 12 speaks about our right that no one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks. Example: One example that corresponds to this article is that even the police or the Government has no right into barging into our houses even if we are suspects to a crime. In order for them to be able to do this they need a search warrant or a warrant of arrest if their intention is to bring us to a precinct for interrogation NURSING PRACTICE: The patient has the right to provide information or to not give information according to his preference. If the patient wants to keep the procedures done to him/her confidential, then he/she has that right to privacy granted, if violated, the violator will be subject to federal punishment

Article 21 on HUMAN RIGHTS Article 21 speaks of our rights in our society and government One is that everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives. Second is that everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country. Third is that the will of the people shall be the basis of the 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.