Abstract

The term ‘human rights’ is arguably the most frequently used expression in international politics today. Since entering the political lexicon of late, the term has seeped into everyday parlance like no other term in recent memory. Yet despite being common and part of our everyday language, it is not easy to define due to ideological differences among scholars. So, to understand the term properly, it may be helpful to start by clarifying the meaning of the word ‘right’. In literature, the latter is often employed in two senses: first, it is used to refer to ethical or moral rectitude; and secondly, it is also used in the sense of entitlement and claims. Each of these senses has a specific theoretical grammar showing substantial differences in the two. While it is not the burden of this paper to go into all that, suffice it to say that human rights belong to the category of entitlement and claims, and that it is these features that differentiate them from other forms of rights (Donnelly, 1985).