Introduction The evolution of human rights can be traced back to the 18 th century activism in which the gaps in the legal recognition and definite consciousness of human rights were narrowed. History indicates that human rights are not granted by the state rather, human rights are attained through struggle and challenge to the existing authority. The current legal recognition of human rights attainment originated from various declarations and the most pronounced included the Magna Carta declaration in the thirteenth century that curtailed the royal powers, the American declaration of independence in 1776 and the French declaration of the rights of man and citizens in 1789 (Adedeji par 3). The stated declarations were some of the major revolutionary achievements towards attaining the current legal recognition of the universal human rights. However, the current meaning of universal human rights is derived from the typologies of rights that were established after the formation of the UN following the Second World War. The UN convention of 1948 established the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which fundamentally defined the central ideas applicable to all human rights (Adedeji par 4). While the current the UDHR is a declaration rather than a formal treaty, it forms the foundation of human rights. In fact, the rights of an individual and the limits of the state are fundamentally based on the declaration. Following the negotiations on the importance of economic rights and civil and political rights, the UN general assembly in 1966 came up with a treaty that legally bound all the human rights into two aspects. The first aspect is the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the second aspect is the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). The 1966 treaty produced the legal binding declarations that basically formed the foundation of the current human rights structure (Adedeji par 4). Besides, the rights that were internationally agreed upon and put into legally binding treaty were largely borrowed from the UDHR. As indicated, the UDHR is not a binding legal document. However, it is universally applied such that it attained the status of customary law that is binding. Together with the 1966 international treaty on human rights, the rights contained in the documents can be categorized into three groups namely the three generations of human rights. Civil and political rights (first generation rights) The first generation rights contain both individual rights and the limitations of the state on these rights. Most of these rights relate to liberty and includes the fundamental right to life (Sehmer 3). All the individual rights related to self-determination including freedom from discrimination, slavery, torture and political participation (Adedeji par 5). Also included is the freedom of conscience, opinion, expression, thought and assembly (Adedeji par 5). Even though these rights and freedoms have been granted through universal suffrage, they remain in theory rather than practice. Most states do not grant the freedoms fully as contained within the legal treaties. Economic and social rights (second generation rights) The second generation rights are related to economic, social and cultural security of individuals.