PHM-Exch> Food for a how-to-defend-ourselves thought

[Claudio Schuftan]

Human Rights Reader 278

JUSTICE, HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE STATE: TO HAVE A RIGHT IS TO HAVE SOMETHING
WHICH SOCIETY OUGHT TO DEFEND ME FOR. (John Stuart Mill)

 -“Man is a social animal. Therefore he is a political animal".
-Members of society who depend most upon an acceptable theory of justice
are its poorer, marginalized and less powerful members. It is for them that
a just society is most crucial.

The human rights framework basically looks at people in societies with
attention to claims they have on each other in the form of rights and
duties, as well as with attention to their demands for justice and equality.

Politics is in a continuum with morality; our political duties and
obligations are thus often congruent with our moral duties and obligations.
Human rights are typically defended on the basis of moral principles
although it may as well be on legal and political grounds. This is not to
say that all politics or all politicians are moral; but it is to say that
our politics are constrained and indeed determined by our sense of morality.
>From the HR perspective, a person or a group may very well disrupt the
smooth operations of the government if it is convincingly demonstrated
these operations interfere with the overall public interest. HR basically
carry within themselves the power to bring individual interests in line
with public interests. HR firmly contend that the function of the state is
and has to be to protect the public interest, protect equity, protect
equality and protect justice.

To read the full Reader, go to

http://wp.me/plAxa-1xd

Claudio
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