Human Rights Cartoon (92): Public Opposition to Migration

(copyright http://www.claybennett.com/)
The public in most developed countries (or rich countries) is often opposed to immigration:

(source: http://pewresearch.org/)
There are two main reasons for this opposition. Opinions about immigration are closely linked to perceptions about threats to a country’s culture, for example the language. We see a lot of anxiety in the US about English as the first [...]

Human Rights Quote (67): Economic Freedom

“Open markets offer the only realistic hope of pulling billions of people in developing countries out of abject poverty, while sustaining prosperity in the industrialized world.” Kofi Annan

“Africa must be allowed to trade itself out of poverty.” Bob Geldof
Human rights do not include a right to have economic freedom or to have a free market. [...]

Human Rights Facts (29): International Private Charity

Economic rights, such as the right to be free from poverty, should not be viewed as primarily the business of states, otherwise we will lose the benefits of solidarity which results from spontaneous mutual assistance. Allowing economic rights to be realized at the level of people’s relationships will strengthen solidarity, feelings of common humanity and [...]

Human Rights Facts (28): Constitutional Universality

The theme of this post is the often difficult relationship between citizenship and human rights. This relationship is difficult because human rights, which are explicitly rights for all people everywhere, without distinctions of any kind, seem to require citizenship, and hence a distinction between groups of somehow differentiated people, for their protection. Without citizenship, it [...]

Marx and Democracy

According to Marxism, democracy suffers from a contradiction between political equality on the one hand (equal votes but also equal rights, equality before the law etc. - see here and here) and economic or material equality on the other hand. The absence of the latter prevents the full realization of political and even judicial equality [...]

Human Rights Facts (17): Conditional Development Aid

In the previous post, I cited some numbers on development aid. Many donors have started to attach conditions to the aid they give (much like the conditions that are often attached to loans, see this post on foreign debt). Some of these conditions are respect for human rights, democratic government and good governance.
Indeed, development is [...]

Human Rights Facts (16): Development Aid

International development aid is a necessary tool for the protection of the human rights of people in developing countries. Especially their so-called economic rights such as the right to food and shelter.
“Can” implies “ought”, because those with more power tend to have more responsibilities. A wealthy country or a group of wealthy countries can help [...]

Human Rights Cartoon (65): Economic Rights

Is it justified to use the word “rights” in the context of economic rights such as the right not to suffer extreme poverty? Are these rights comparable to classical freedom rights or are they an example of the way in which superficial reasoning destroys the meaning of words? Are they rights or are they mere [...]

Human Rights Poem (25): Thought (Economic Rights)

Thought, Walt Whitman
Of Equality–as if it harm’d me, giving others the same chances and
rights as myself–as if it were not indispensable to my own
rights that others possess the same.
Whitman was probably not thinking of economic rights, but let’s assume he was. There are two reasons why economic rights should be applied universally and why my [...]

Human Rights Cartoon (38): Economic Rights

(by Clay Bennett, http://www.claybennett.com/)
The time has come to accept that economic rights are real rights like any other rights. Those who struggle against poverty have a right to the absence of poverty. Their claims are not just wishes but rights. Accepting economic rights means encouraging the poor and justifying or legitimising their struggle. They have [...]