scholarly journals Global bioethics and human rights in an African context: A reformed theological discourse on global bioethics as a new human rights ethos

2016 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
A.L. Rheeder
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Theoretical Foundation ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Global Bioethics ◽  
Human Rights Practice ◽  
Theological Discourse ◽  
Universal Expansion ◽  
African Context

The 2005 UNESCO Universal Declaration of Bioethics and Human Rights (UDBHR) is specifically aimed at Africa and developing countries from other regions. The acceptance of this UNESCO instrument shows that global bioethics and human rights have become part of the bioethics discourse of today. It is clear that there is a certain affinity between human rights and bioethics, which makes such a link desirable. The value of this link lies in the fact that human rights facilitate a normative universal expansion of bioethical principles. The human rights framework provides bioethical principles with some authority and political influence, an instrument that can protect people in our broken context. Human rights practice and a reformed understanding of natural law both show that humanity can reach consensus on ethical principles such as those found in the UDBHR. Consensus on the theoretical foundation of human rights is not a prerequisite for the successful utilisation of these principles.

scholarly journals THE RIGHT TO HOUSING IN THE CONTEXT OF NIGERIAN LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICE

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-23
Author(s):  
Emeke Chegwe
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
State Government ◽  
Urban Poor ◽  
Government Intervention ◽  
Human Rights Practice ◽  
Lagos State ◽  
The Right ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Mega Cities

Every society needs a set of laws which stipulates the rights and duties of citizens, aswell as regulate the conduct of the society. But law is often perceived as repressive andunpopular by majority of the urban poor in many developing countries who feel that the lawhas done little or nothing to ameliorate their sufferings. For example, new evidence fromsatellite images has revealed the true extent of forced evictions going on in Badia East-Lagos,one of Nigeria’s mega cities. The pictures taken during and after the demolitions carried outby the Lagos State government on 23rd February 2013, clearly shows that a densely populatedarea containing concrete housing and other structures was razed to the ground. Given theimportance of housing to the overall development and existence of mankind, it is necessary tofirst determine the existence of a legal right to adequate housing to warrant a demand by thecitizen to fulfil this right and in order to appreciate the need for government intervention inthis area.

Theoretical Foundations for Human Rights

2017 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 601-617 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vittorio Bufacchi
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Innovative Approach ◽  
Constructivist Theory ◽  
Political Practice ◽  
Human Rights Practice ◽  
Theoretical Foundations ◽  
Deflationary Theory

This article explores an alternative to the established dichotomy between philosophical (natural law) accounts of human rights, characterized by a foundationalist tendency, and political (practice-based) accounts of human rights, which aspire to be non-foundationalist. I argue that in order to justify human rights practice, political accounts of human rights cannot do without the support of theoretical foundations, although not necessarily of the natural-law variety. As an alternative to natural-law metaphysics, a deflationary theory of human rights, based on a deflationary account of truth, is put forward. Starting from a distinction between ‘extreme’ and ‘moderate’ forms of deflationism, this article defends a constructivist theory of human rights grounded on the Humean notion of conventionalism. This innovative approach to human rights provides political conceptions of human rights with the foundations (or quasi-foundations) they need, but are currently lacking.

scholarly journals God, New Natural Law Theory, and Human Rights

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 613
Author(s):  
Christopher Tollefsen
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Natural Rights ◽  
Creative Activity ◽  
Adequate Account ◽  
Full Theory ◽  
Natural Law Theory ◽  
Epistemological Dimension

Critics of the “New” Natural Law (NNL) theory have raised questions about the role of the divine in that theory. This paper considers that role in regard to its account of human rights: can the NNL account of human rights be sustained without a more or less explicit advertence to “the question of God’s existence or nature or will”? It might seem that Finnis’s “elaborate sketch” includes a full theory of human rights even prior to the introduction of his reflections on the divine in the concluding chapter of Natural Law and Natural Rights. But in this essay, I argue that an adequate account of human rights cannot, in fact, be sustained without some role for God’s creative activity in two dimensions, the ontological and the motivational. These dimensions must be distinguished from the epistemological dimension of human rights, that is, the question of whether epistemological access to truths about human rights is possible without reference to God’s existence, nature, or will. The NNL view is that such access is possible. However, I will argue, the epistemological cannot be entirely cabined off from the relevant ontological and motivational issues and the NNL framework can accommodate this fact without difficulty.

On American Values, Unalienable Rights, and Human Rights: Some Reflections on the Pompeo Commission

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathias Risse
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
Declaration Of Independence ◽  
American Values ◽  
Natural Law Theory ◽  
Per Se ◽  
The U.S

AbstractIn July 2019, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo launched a Commission on Unalienable Rights, charged with a reexamination of the scope and nature of human rights–based claims. From his statements, it seems that Pompeo hopes the commission will substantiate—by appeal to the U.S. Declaration of Independence and to natural law theory—three key conservative ideas: (1) that there is too much human rights proliferation, and once we get things right, social and economic rights as well as gender emancipation and reproductive rights will no longer register as human rights; (2) that religious liberties should be strengthened under the human rights umbrella; and (3) that the unalienable rights that should guide American foreign policy neither need nor benefit from any international oversight. I aim to show that despite Pompeo's framing, the Declaration of Independence, per se, is of no help with any of this, whereas evoking natural law is only helpful in ways that reveal its own limitations as a foundation for both human rights and foreign policy in our interconnected age.

scholarly journals Human Rights and Human Nature

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 523-534
Author(s):  
Jean Rhéaume
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Positive Law

At least two important consequences follow from the fact that human rights are based on human nature. First, they exist according to natural law even in cases where positive law does not recognize them. Secondly, they cannot evolve because the nature and purpose of the human being does not change: only their formulation and level of protection in positive law can vary according to the socio-historical context.

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