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Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals’ freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. Civil and political rights form the original and main part of international human rights. In the 17th century, English common law judge Sir Edward Coke revived the idea of rights based on citizenship by arguing that Jura e8 had historically enjoyed such rights. The removal by legislation of a civil right constitutes a “civil disability”.
In early 19th century Britain, the phrase “civil rights” most commonly referred to the issue of such legal discrimination against Catholics. In the House of Commons support for civil rights was divided, with many politicians agreeing with the existing civil disabilities of Catholics. Marshall notes that civil rights were among the first to be recognized and codified, followed later by political rights and still later by social rights. In many countries, they are constitutional rights and are included in a bill of rights or similar document. Civil and political rights need not be codified to be protected. However, most democracies worldwide do have formal written guarantees of civil and political rights. Civil rights are considered to be natural rights.
The question of to whom civil and political rights apply is a subject of controversy. Although in many countries citizens have greater protections against infringement of rights than non-citizens, civil and political rights are generally considered to be universal rights that apply to all persons. According to political scientist Salvador Santino F. Global South should be focusing on the interactions of domestic and international factors—an important perspective that has usually been systematically neglected in the social science literature.
The United States Declaration of Independence states that people have unalienable rights including “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. It is considered by some that the sole purpose of government is the protection of life, liberty and property. Civil rights guarantee equal protection under the law. When civil and political rights are not guaranteed to all as part of equal protection of laws, or when such guarantees exist on paper but are not respected in practice, opposition, legal action and even social unrest may ensue. Civil rights movements in the United States gathered steam by 1848 with such documents as the Declaration of Sentiment. Worldwide, several political movements for equality before the law occurred between approximately 1950 and 1980.
These movements had a legal and constitutional aspect, and resulted in much law-making at both national and international levels. They also had an activist side, particularly in situations where violations of rights were widespread. Communist countries, such as the Prague Spring and Charter 77 in Czechoslovakia and the uprisings in Hungary. Most civil rights movements relied on the technique of civil resistance, using nonviolent methods to achieve their aims. Questions about civil and political rights have frequently emerged.
