civil rights

Civil and political freedoms are a class of rights that protect individuals’ freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals, and which ensure one’s ability to participate in the civic and political life of society and the state without discrimination or repression. Civil liberties include safeguarding individuals’ physical and mental well-being, life and safety; protection from bias on grounds such as race, gender, national origin, ethnicity, attraction, color, religion, or disability; and personal rights such as confidentiality, the freedoms of thought and conscience, speech and expression, religion, the media, assembly and mobility. Political freedoms encompass natural justice (fair process) under the law, such as the rights of the accused, including the entitlement to a just trial; proper procedure; the right to seek compensation or legal recourse; and entitlements to engage in civil society and politics, such as freedom of association, the right to congregate, the right to appeal, the right to self-defense, and the right to participate in elections. Civil and political freedoms constitute the primary and foundational aspect of international human rights. They comprise the initial segment of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (with economic, social, and cultural rights forming the second segment). The concept of three generations of human rights designates this category of rights as “first-generation rights,” while the theory of negative and positive rights generally categorizes them as negative rights.

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