Distinguish between different types of international human rights

We can distinguish between types of international rights through Karel Vasak's definition of rights as being categorised into generations.The earliest human rights to be established were civil and political rights. (First generation rights) These rights are often viewed as ‘negative’ rights in the sense that they imply restrictions or constraints on government power; many of them are also seen as civil liberties. Articles 2-21 of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights cover these types of rights and it includes the right to life, liberty and the security of the person. These rights nevertheless include ‘positive’ rights that they may require affirmative government action, such as the right to a fair and public trial and to free elections. Economic, social and cultural rights are often based, by contrast on socialist philosophy (Second generation rights) These rights are designed to protect people from poverty and economic injustice and they are ‘positive’ in the sense that they require intervention on the part of government rather than its constraint. Articles 22-27 of the UN Declaration cover a range of economic and social rights, including the right to social security, the right to education and the right to work and to protection against unemployment. A third kind of rights are so-called solidarity rights. (Third generation rights) These are rights that help particular groups to protect their identities, interests or culture. They include the right to political, economic, social and cultural self-determination on the part of national minorities or countries subjected to neo-colonialism. Solidarity rights may also include so-called ‘special’ rights which belong to particular groups within a society, examples including women’s rights and minority rights. An example is the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights – Banjul Charter.