Consequences of human rights arguments

It appears that human rights are treated as part of natural rights or moral entitlements that inhere in the very existence of human beings, right from the stage of conceiving to death. Arguments with respect to the scope of the human right have, for example, included right of an unborn child and right of a perennially sick old person or incurably challenged person to ‘mercy killing’. While the first is related to the controversy on practices of gender determination and abortion, the second involves right to end human suffering of a human being.

The right of an unborn child should be treated in the same manner as Aristotle treats the nature of a seed. Nature of a seed is what it would attain when fully grown—purpose or end that a seed is to grow into a plant. Similarly, nature of an unborn child is what it would be when born and allowed to grow, a human being. There is yet another angle that comes in the picture while the issue of right of unborn child is dealt with. In countries such as India, abortion is also related to gender discrimination; abortion when a girl child is detected. As such, the human right argument of an unborn child is not neutral but related to the women right; right of women not to be discriminated. It is also important to note that women rights activists and supporters argue that rights that inhere in human beings has generally male orientation or at least male as the main focus.

H. A. L. Hart has maintained that ‘human rights are general rights rather than specific rights: they are universal to all humanity.’⁸⁰ As a result of such arguments, two consequences follow. Firstly, there has been claim for universal human rights irrespective of cultures and values, and secondly, various conventional rights, which fall under the economic, civil and political rights, have been given effect or are claimed for giving effect in the context of human rights. In fact, Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes economic, social and cultural and also political and civil rights as part of human rights. The human rights perspective necessarily requires celebrating humanity in each individual as an end. As a result, slavery, untouchability, apartheid and a lot of other forms of exclusions and discriminations that engenders inequality and exploitation in society came present a picture of humanity deficit.

Having travelled its journey a long way and having been recognized as the contemporary avatar of rights, human rights have been used to argue for protection against violation of the rights of prisoners, war criminals, under trials, right activists, protestors, political opponents, asylum seekers, migrants, refugees, displaced people, minorities, women and unborn child and even terrorists. This apparently goes to prove that human rights do not only encompass individual rights but also rights of groups, nationalities, gender, peoples, etc.