Meaning and concept of integrity
“Integrity” is the qualifications of being honest and having strong moral principles moral uprightness. It is generally a personal choice to hold oneself to consistent moral and ethical standards. Koehn defined integrity as “the compassionate and receptive work of making the self whole and enduringly happy through critically and assiduously separating who we truly are from the false ego. Integrity has also been described as: adhering to what one believes to be right, especially when a price is paid in foregoing immediate gain.
Significant attention is given to the subject of integrity in law and the conception of law in 20th century philosophy of law and jurisprudence centering in part on the research of Ronald Dworkin as studied in his book, “Law’s Empire.” Dworkin’s position on integrity in law reinforces the conception of justice viewed as fairness

Concept of integrity
A value system’s abstraction depth and range of applicable interaction may also function as significant factors in identifying integrity due to their congruence or lack of congruence with observation. A value system may evolve over time, while retaining integrity, if those who espouse the integrity are doing the right thing for the right reason. McGill-Queen’s University values account for and resolve inconsistencies. An individual’s value system provides a framework within which the individual acts in ways which are consistent and expected.
Integrity can be seen as the state or condition of having such a framework, and acting congruently within the given framework. In personal ethics, this principle requires that one should not act according to any rule that one would not wish to see universally followed. For example, one should not steal unless one would want to live in a world in which everyone was a thief. The philosopher, Immanuel Kant, formally described the principle of universal application in his categorical imperative.
The concept of integrity implies a wholeness, a comprehensive corpus of beliefs, often referred to as a worldview. This concept of wholeness emphasizes honesty and authenticity, requiring that one acts at all times in accordance with the individual’s chosen worldview. McFall, summarizing the essence of this philosophical integrity, believes that personal and literary rendering of personal integrity requires the individual exercising such to: (1) subscribe to some consistent set of principles or commitments and (2), in the face of temptation or challenge, (3) uphold these principles or commitments, (4) for what the agent takes to be the right reasons?
Sampford has suggested that integrity involves asking questions about our values, giving honest and public answers and attempting to live by those answers,” Similarly, Bloskie concluded that integrity simply “implies a consistency or a coherence between one’s personal beliefs and behaviour” and is the result of a” coherence of values, aims and behaviours. Simons has also described integrity as: “the perceived degree of congruence between the values expressed by words and those expressed through action. So it is theoretically arguable that one
could have integrity and yet not be a good person.
Integrity is one of the top attributes of a great leader. It is a concept of consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations and outcomes. It connotes a deep commitment to do the right thing for the right reason, regardless of the circumstances. Choosing the right, regardless of the consequence, is the hallmark of integrity. For instance, Jurkiewicz and Giacalone, dissecting the importance of integrity in leadership as part of a values framework in workplace, links it to respect, justice, responsibility and trust. Leaders with integrity walk the talk. They are consistent, honest, moral and trustworthy. Their deeds match their words. Leaders without integrity can’t be trusted – by their colleagues or the public and inevitably, that will lead to problems. In the protection of human rights, it is of great importance that leadership of the country trustworthy. They must apply the Constitution and laws dealing with human rights and civil liberties as they have voluntarily sworn to. To this end; Muel Kaptein opines that integrity starts with what politicians should know and what their position entails, since integrity demands knowledge and compliance with both the letter and the spirit of the written and unwritten rules. So by ‘leading with integrity’, we are talking about behaviours in the leader that seek to yield the most moral outcomes, even when there is a cost (however short-term), to the leader, as a result.

What are human rights?
Human rights are moral principles or norms.” which describe certain standards of human behavior, and are regularly protected as legal rights in municipal and international law. They are commonly understood as inalienable’ “fundamental rights” to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being, and which are “inherent in all human beings” regardless of their nation, location, language, religion, ethnic origin or any other status. They are applicable everywhere and at every time in the sense of being universal and they are egalitarian in the sense of being the same for everyone. They require empathy and the rule of law and impose an obligation on persons to respect the human rights of others.”They should not be taken away except as a result of due process based on specific circumstances for example, human rights may include freedom from unlawful imprisonment, torture, and execution.

Historical sources of human rights
Historical sources for human rights can be traced to past documents, particularly Constitution of Medina (622), Al-Risalah al-Huquq (659-713), Magna Carta (1215), the English Bill of Rights (1689), the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789), and the Bill of Rights in the United States Constitution (1791). Early philosophical sources of the idea of human rights include Francisco Suarez, Hugo Grotius, Samuel Pufendorf, John Locke, and Immanuel Kant. The idea of human rights suggests that “if the public discourse of peacetime global society can be said to have a common moral language, it is that of human rights. Many of the basic ideas that animated the human rights movement developed in the aftermath of the Second World War and the atrocities of The Holocaust culminating in the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Paris by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948.
The United Nations General Assembly in 1948, partly in response to the atrocities of World War II. It is generally viewed as the preeminent statement of international rights and has been identified as being a culmination of centuries of thinking along both secular and religious lives Although the UDHR is a non-binding resolution, it is now considered by some to have acquired the force of international customary law which may be invoked in appropriate circumstances by national and other tribunals. The UDHR urges member nations to promote a number of human, civil, economic and social rights, asserting these rights as part of the “foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.” The declaration was the first international legal effort to limit the behaviour of states and press upon them duties to their citizens.

Thought for the week
One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised – Chinua Achebe.

Last line
God bless my numerous global readers for always keeping faith with the Sunday Sermon on the Mount of the Nigerian Project, by humble me, Prof Mike Ozekhome, SAN, CON, OFR, FCIArb., LL.M, Ph.D, LL.D, D.Litt, D.Sc. Kindly, come with me to next week’s exciting dissertation.