The view is widely held, and it is false, that the concept of human rights was first developed by the Europeans. Traditional Yoruba collectivist or communitarian philosophy provided the individual with three basic or fundamental human rights, namely, the right to be, the right to do and the right to have.

      i.         The right to be was comprised of the right to life, the right to love and affection, and the right to education and training (that is, the wherewithal to succeed in life).

     ii.         The right to do was comprised of the right to work and earn, and the right to freely express one’s self (‘as the elder is wise, so is the child’), to move, to associate and to assemble.

    iii.         The right to have was comprised of the right to marriage and family life, the right to fair hearing (‘the elder who decides after hearing one side, does injustice to both sides’), the right to be treated with dignity, and the right to develop to one’s full capacity.