Group rights are rights enjoyed by people as a group. These rights can be enjoyed by all members as a group or only by some individuals who belong to a certain group. As such group rights are not necessarily collective rights, which are exercised by a group of people collectively. Accordingly group rights also can be claimed by individuals.
Examples for such groups are children, women, men, indigenous people, youth, workers, religious groups, displaces persons etc. These are very broad groups, and there can be variations within these groups.
There are several reasons to recognize certain rights as group rights. One reason is it gives more recognition and force to a right when it is claimed as a group right. On the other hand it has become necessary to claim rights as group rights because of the social or political oppression on certain rights exercised by identifiable groups.
- Teacher: Achalie Kumarage