Human Rights are rights to which people are entitled by virtue of being human, they are a modern and secular version of "natural rights". There are four characteristics to define human rights. First, they are universal. Human rights belong to everyone without discriminating against any particular race, religion, caste, creed and other such differences. Second, they are fundamental in the sense they are crucially important and are of prime importance. Third, they are absolute implication is that they are basic for each individual and fourth, they are indivisible. It means that all forms of human rights, be it civic, economic or social are of equal importance. Karel Vasak, a distinguished and very well-known human rights scholar, introduced the idea of three generations of human rights, which allows us to understand the types and evolution of human rights better. The first generation of human rights is civil and political rights. The second generation of human rights includes economic, social and cultural rights and the third generation of human rights are called solidarity rights.

• The first generation rights i.e., civil and political rights are the initial form of natural rights. These rights developed during the English Revolution of the 17^th century and the French and American Revolution of the 18^th century. The key theme underlying these rights is liberty. The first generation rights include the right to life, the right to liberty, and the right to property and have expanded to include non-discrimination, freedom from arbitrary arrest, freedom of thought, freedom of religion, freedom of movement etc. These rights are often seen as a manifestation of negative rights since they can be enjoyed only when there is a restriction upon others. The key documents to understand the content of the first generation of human rights are Article 3 to Article 21 of the UN Declaration and the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights of 1966 which came into force in 1976.
• In the twentieth century, especially post World War II, second-generation rights began to earn a greater prominence. The economy of countries was torn by war and there was massive destruction as a result of the world wars. Therefore, the effort for economic, social and cultural rights developed during the twentieth century. The rights rely on socialist assumptions and the underlying theme is equality which is in contrast to first-generation rights and the notion of liberty. The second-generation rights include the right to work, the right to health care, the right to education, the right to social security etc. Therefore, these rights are seen as a manifestation of positive rights as they place a claim on the state and a duty to oblige for action, for example, welfare provisions. The key documents to understand the content of second-generation rights are Article 22 to Article 27 of the UN Declaration and the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966.
• The third generation of rights emerged post-1945 and are referred to as solidarity rights. This is for the simple reason that these rights are concerned with social groups and society on the whole rather than an individual. They are therefore seen as collective rights. The underlying theme of the third-generation rights is fraternity. Usually, these rights are shaped by the difficulties faced by the countries of the Global South. These rights include the right to development, the right to environmental protection, the right to self-determination, the right to peace etc. The Stockholm Convention of Human Environment of 1972 and the Earth Summit of 1992 at Rio can be analysed to understand these rights.