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Introduction Rights appear in every plausible theory of justice and dominate contemporary political rhetoric. Critics, as a matter of course, raise two objections to this proliferation of rights talk. First, they argue that no clear justification exists for rights. As a result, every political issue can be turned into a demand for rights. This inflation of rights claims has devalued the currency of
4 Rights The idea that patients were in possession of rights in relation to health has long permeated discussions about medicine and health in Britain, but during the 1970s and 1980s, ‘rights talk’ became more prominent. Patientconsumer organisations began to formulate many of their demands, such as access to information or the ability to complain, as ‘rights’. A plethora of rights guides and charters were produced from the late 1970s onwards, designed to inform the patient of his or her rights, including things such as access to treatment on the NHS, to
Introduction The notion of human rights describes what it is to be human and defines the ‘rock bottom of human existence’. 1 Human rights law challenges the traditional state-centred scope of international law, giving individuals and groups, otherwise with very restricted access to the international legal system, the possibility of making
This book provides an expanded and up-to-date account of the European Convention on Human Rights and the evolution of its system of human rights protection. It explains the scope of the rights and freedoms which are guaranteed, then reviews the institutional arrangements, first as they functioned until November 1998, and now under Protocol No. 11. To put the Strasbourg system in perspective, the book begins with a short historical overview of the Convention and its progressive elaboration and describes the new European Court of Human Rights. It also mentions other arrangements which now exist for promoting and protecting human rights in Europe. The Council of Europe was set up as a peaceful association of democratic States which proclaimed their faith in the rule of law and 'their devotion to the spiritual and moral values which are the common heritage of their peoples'. The 'Congress of Europe', convened by the International Committee of Movements for European Unity, was held at The Hague in May 1948. Articles 14-18 of the Convention relate to the scope and exercise of the rights guaranteed. They are therefore not intended to secure additional rights, but rather to ensure the effective exercise of the rights set out in the earlier provisions, or in certain situations to permit their limitation. Article 14 establishes the principle of non-discriminatory application, Article 15 allows for the exercise of emergency powers, and Article 17 is intended to prevent abuse of the Convention's freedoms.
Contemporary Asian art has had a remarkable impact on global art practice, and simultaneously has produced an enduring record of the history of that region from the moment of decolonisation to the present. Many artists in the region have a deep concern about what it means to be human and to contribute to the development of a better future for their communities as well as having a sustained commitment to making art. This book, written at the start of the ‘Asian century’, focuses on the contexts and conditions which have helped to shape both art practice, and postcolonial society, in the region. Using case studies of selected artists, it discusses their work in relation to issues of human rights, social and environmental wellbeing, and creativity and is one of the first surveys of these issues in contemporary Asian art. It is an important contribution to studies of contemporary Asian art and art history.
This book addresses the relationship between human rights and religion. The original blurb for the Oxford Amnesty Lectures of 2008 invited speakers and audiences to ponder arguments for the God-given source of human rights. The book explains how biblical inspiration (both Old and New Testament) fuelled the anti-slavery protests and later the civil rights movement in the United States. It develops the particular relevance, for arguments over human rights within Islam, of the writings of the medieval philosopher Muhammad al-Ghazali who justified an openness towards constructive engagement with other traditions. The book shows where the philosophical worldviews that inform the religion of Islam and the rights discourse may be distant from each other. It illustrates the challenge of taking the real world of human practice seriously while avoiding simplistic arguments for pluralism or relativism. The book focuses on Simon Schama's evocation of the religious fervour which helped feed the long struggles for liberation among American slave communities. It discusses the understanding of human rights in the Roman Catholic tradition. The book also shows that the Christian experience of Pentecost and what it means to learn to speak as well as understand another's language, is a continuing resource God has given the church to sustain the ability to suffer as well as respond to those who suffer for the long haul. The book argues that moral progress consists in the universalisation of Western liberal democracy with its specific understanding of human rights.
This book focuses on the ways in which the British settler colonies of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa treated indigenous peoples in relation to political rights, commencing with the imperial policies of the 1830s and ending with the national political settlements in place by 1910. Drawing on a wide range of sources, its comparative approach provides an insight into the historical foundations of present-day controversies in these settler societies.
98 Recognition and development International human rights and the international criminal responsibility of individuals were more clearly recognised only after the Second World War. Human rights have been further developed on the basis of the non-binding Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The current human rights treaty catalogue
This book examines the intersection between incarceration and human rights. It is about why independent inspection of places of custody is a necessary part of human rights protection, and how that independence is manifested and preserved in practice. Immigration and asylum policies ask crucial questions about national identity, about human rights, and about our values as compassionate citizens in an era of increasingly complex international challenges. The book deals with the future of prisons and shows how the vulnerable population has been unconscionably treated. To arrive at a proper diagnosis of the expansive use and abuse of the prison in the age of economic deregulation and social insecurity, it is imperative that we effect some analytic breaks with the gamut of established approaches to incarceration. The book explores the new realities of criminal confinement of persons with mental illness. It traces the efforts of New Right think-tanks, police chiefs and other policy entrepreneurs to export neoliberal penality to Europe, with England and Wales acting as an 'acclimatization chamber'. In a series of interventions, of which his Oxford Amnesty Lecture is but one, Loic Wacquant has in recent years developed an incisive and invaluable analysis of the rise and effects of what he calls the penal state.
12 The construction of rights Keith Dowding and Martin van Hees In what sense, if any, do rights exist? If rights are instantiated in law but difficult to exercise in practice, do people really have those rights? Can we compare across countries to see what rights people have both materially and formally? We map out below the senses in which rights can be said to have existence. We suggest a framework for analysing how rights might be measured and compared. The framework is supposed to be relatively neutral between competing conceptions of rights, though we do