A perspective of human rights and fundamental liberties in part II of the Federal Constitution in the context of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM)

• Main Author: Vohrah, K.C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: UUM College of Law, Government and International Studies 2010
• Subjects: K Law (General)
• Online Access: http://repo.uum.edu.my/5224/1/A_Per.pdf; http://repo.uum.edu.my/5224/; http://lintas.uum.edu.my:8080/elmu/index.jsp?module=webopac-l&action=fullDisplayRetriever.jsp&szMaterialNo=0000767797

The topic of Human Rights is hardly a subject that is taught in our Universities.I think it should be.And that, in fact, the principles of Human Rights explained in simple form should be taught, first and foremost, in schools. It can be a complex subject and it is not static. Already commentators are talking about "generations" of Human Rights as it becomes more and more refined as the concept of Human Rights becomes entrenched in the system on international law and domestic law as well.The "first generation" rights refer to those civil and political rights that are at the core of most human rights regime. Some of those rights are found in Part 11 of the Federal Constitution relating to fundamental liberties and also in other provisions of the Constitution.The "second generation" Human Rights relate, generally, to matters of social and economic matters like the right to work, the right to social security, the right to education etc. And then there is the "third generation" rights which you read more and more today - rights of development , right to a protected environment, right to peace and right to self determination.Obviously we have to restrict ourselves today to some basic stuff, the parameters of which are shown in the title of this talk. What I propose to do is to divide my talk into bite size subtopics or otherwise the amount of data can be overwhelming.