Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
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Not against society rights are meant to be aligned with the long-term
good of the society, even if not for the government of the day
They generally trump the public good
Limitations on rights are strictly limited
In sum, the idea that the individual counts (and see above on claims upon
society)
Rights are essentially individual, not those of groups
Other kinds of rights: domestic rights; other generations of rights
[p 99, Henkin]
Rights less universal across time than rhetoric suggests religion particularly
problematic
Religions tend to address rights only as a beneficiary of the right to religious
freedom
Religions generally generate responsibilities and duties, not rights
Similarly, communitarianism
Today religions tend to embrace rights but continue to reject human rights as
a total ideology the idea of rights as a floor
True socialism is actually ideologically compatible with rights
The idea of development has a difficult relationship with human rights many
argue that the public good of economic development can justify compromising
human rights
But development is unlike an emergency it is a long-term, pervasive,
comprehensive program in which individual rights have to be integrated, not
one that can be used as basis for disregarding them
The common assumption that one must choose between societal development
and individual rights (of any kind or degree) has not been proven
The idea of rights is not a complete, all-embracing ideology it is not in fact in
competition with other ideologies
Textbook:
Conflicts between religion and human rights are particularly salient when
religious law receives official sanction from the state
Religious objections to the whole modern system of international cooperation
have become a source of violent conflict:
In one of his post-9/11 videos, Osama bin Laden argued that international
human rights, the UN and other secular laws were all diametrically opposed
to religion
Class
Defining human rights:
Human
Inherent and universal?
How about e.g. the rights of indigenous groups? The rights of women,
children, or refugees?
Recognised/granted by treaties?
Rights
Entitlements? Reflects corresponding obligations?
Rights are a relationship (see Hohfeld)
Do they have to be enforceable/adjudicatory in nature?
*NB Worth reading the translation of the French Declaration pp 7273
What are the benefits of human rights as a universal understanding?
Human rights allow individuals to challenge majority/state authority individually
Human rights create a sense of justice within society that can contribute to just
outcomes
Human rights can create a sense of solidarity or cohesiveness in society
What are the costs of human rights?
Human rights as compromising democratic principles
Human rights mechanisms being prone to error
Human rights systems can be used by parties to confer undeserved legitimacy on
certain positions or policies otherwise subject to moral/political objections
Human rights based on legal entitlement could displace other values such as
charity or mercy
Development? (see Henkin)
One human rights claim often impinges on a contrary human rights claim how
to strike a balance?
Costs of international human rights
Existing international institutions have defects which could make their
involvement counter-productive
[But is it worse that we have fallible international institutions adjudicating
rights than having fallible national institutions doing so?]
Also, international institutions may be more impartial when it comes to
adjudicating domestic conflicts ideas of conscious and unconscious bias
International institutions dont have staying power they can only look into the
crisis of the day
Sovereignty? (Is this a positive value?)