The Nature of Solidarity Rights: Collective Rights or People's Right

The efforts made by human rights scholars has led to its classification according to the notion of “generational human rights”. Such generations include; the first generation (negative rights), the second generation (positive rights) and the third or solidarity rights which is also referred to as collective rights based on which some regard it as body of rights belonging to group of people or masses. On the contrary, some scholars believe that masses may not enjoy rights as such. Considering the criticism targeted against the third generation of human rights, some scholars do not recognize it as rights, but instead a set of moral virtues or universal values, while there are others that maintain that the third generation of human rights is essential as to compensate for deficiencies attributable to the first and the second generations. Notwithstanding the above, the question has yet remained as to the true nature of third generation of human rights. This paper shall attempt to study the third generation of human rights concept, besides reviewing the criticism targeting the same.