POL SCI 41A Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: United Nations Convention Against Torture, United Nations General Assembly, Human Security
Document Summary
Developed in europe during the middle ages based off of the idea of natural law. There are universal moral standards supporting individual rights. There is a general duty to adhere to these standards. Not limited to any legal system, community, state, race, religion, civilization, etc. Charter rights: rights given by a political contract, limited by that same contract (who gets rights, when they get them, etc. ) Liberal account of rights: a combination of both. All humans beings possess rights to life, liberty, security possession. The only reason to restrain/constrain these rights is to protect another person. Function of government is to protect these rights, based on implicit or explicit contract between people and government. Post wwii, we see an increase in standard setting for h. r. , are developed generations of rights. Generation 1: focus on individual rights - free speech, freedom of religion, voting rights. Generation 2: social, economic, and cultural rights - right to employment, housing, healthcare, education.
