Harnessing human rights

There is much talk of human rights and taking concerted action against states which violate human rights. But what does this actually mean?

This is not a ruse to play devil’s advocate. It is intended to highlight that to answer a question we must understand it first.

So what is the question?

The question in this instance is; what does protecting/promoting human rights mean? In truth this is a two-part question and the answers are inter-dependent.

When we talk of human rights what do we mean? At its simplest, human rights are a recognition of basic human freedoms. But this recognition ignores the seismic social changes which have taken place over the past 50 years. For example is it not a right of all children, no matter what their background or spending power to have an education? Should an AIDs victim be denied treatment which would keep them alive? Should homosexuals/transsexuals be allowed to raise children?

These are not intended to be exhaustive examples but rather to highlight the failure of the human rights framework to adapt to modern realities.

With this answer in our mind we may be able to move towards answering how we protect/promote human rights locally, nationally, regionally and internationally.