Civil Liberties What are they?

Civil liberties are freedoms to exercise one’s rights as guaranteed by the laws of one’s country, or rights which protect the individual from interference or abuse by the government. Civil liberties and human rights are two sides of the same coin—civil liberties is used in the context of a government’s relationship with its citizens, whereas human rights refers more to the fundamental rights that we all share, regardless of our country. Many countries have their own interpretation of civil liberties written into their constitution: the best known of these is the Bill of Rights, which are the first ten amendments of the US Constitution. This guarantees the American people several important freedoms and securities, including the right to ‘keep and bear Arms’ (Second Amendment) and protection from ‘unreasonable searches and seizures’ (Fourth Amendment). The D?claration des Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen (Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen), adopted in 1789 during the French Revolution, is another key civil liberties document; in addition to forming the basis for the French Constitution, it was a forerunner of international human rights documents.

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