Rights, Duties and the Development of Human Rights
What are you entitled to, and what do you owe others? Sort rights from duties, trace human rights from Magna Carta to the Equality Act, and balance the two.
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Entitled, and expected
Living together means balancing what we are entitled to against what we owe each other. A right is something you are entitled to. A duty (or responsibility) is something you are expected to do. This module covers both, and how human rights grew over time.
Right or duty?
Which of these is a duty (a responsibility) rather than a right?
- Obeying the law
- A fair trial
- Freedom of speech
- An education
Types of rights
Rights come in several types:
Match each type of right to an example
- Human right
- Legal right
- Political right
- Civil right
- The right not to be tortured
- The right to a written employment contract
- The right to vote in elections
- The right to equal treatment regardless of race
Rights bring responsibilities
Rights are balanced by responsibilities. Free speech does not allow you to incite violence, and the right to protest does not allow you to harm others. Citizens are also expected to obey the law, pay taxes, and respect the rights of others.
Spot the duties
Select the TWO examples of a citizen's duties or responsibilities.
- Paying taxes
- Serving on a jury if called
- Being given a fair trial
- Receiving free healthcare
The road to human rights
Human rights developed over centuries. Put these milestones in date order.
- Magna Carta limits the monarch's power (1215)
- The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
- The European Convention on Human Rights (1950)
- The UK Human Rights Act (1998)
- The UK Equality Act (2010)
Match each milestone to what it did
- Magna Carta (1215)
- UDHR (1948)
- Human Rights Act (1998)
- Equality Act (2010)
- First limited the power of the monarch
- A global statement of rights after the Second World War
- Brought European rights into UK law
- Combined UK anti-discrimination law
The 1998 Act
What did the UK Human Rights Act 1998 do?
- Brought the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law
- Created the United Nations
- Abolished all taxes
- Wrote the Magna Carta
Legal vs human rights
A key distinction: a human right is a universal moral entitlement everyone has, everywhere. A legal right is one your country's law grants and enforces. Many human rights are also protected as legal rights in the UK, for example through the Human Rights Act.
Balancing act
Rights are rarely absolute. Work through how they balance against others.
- A newspaper wants to print a story. Its freedom of speech is balanced against...
- A person is arrested. Their human rights mean they are entitled to...
- To enjoy rights in a community, citizens are also expected to...
Rights and duties frame
A _____ is something you are entitled to; a duty is something you are expected to do. Human rights are _____ entitlements everyone has, while legal rights are enforced by a country's _____. The UK Human Rights Act of _____ brought European rights into UK law.
Explain it
In your own words, explain the difference between a legal right and a human right, and give one example of each.
- Define a human right (universal, moral, held by everyone)
- Define a legal right (granted and enforced by national law)
- Give one clear example of each