What makes a Right a Human Right? The Philosophy of Human Rights
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Abstract
Undoubtedly, the idea of rights and especially human rights is pervasive these days. According to some, the discourse of human rights has acquired ‘in recent times [...] the status of an ethical lingua franca’1; others hold that ‘there are few mechanisms available other than human rights to function as a global ethical foundation’2, consider it the ‘dominant morality of our time, [...] a truly global morality’3 or even call it ‘the world’s first universal ideology’4. The worldwide acceptance of the idea of human rights is also reflected by the fact that all of the almost 200 states in the world have acknowledged the existence of human rights – either in their constitutions and/or by means of ratification of one or more of the relevant treaties, declarations or covenants of international law. Today, hardly any state would dare – at least not publicly – to question the very idea of human rights. Consequently, there is scarcely any statement with regard to social and political life that is not affirmed using the term rights: ‘these days it is usually not long before a problem is expressed as a human rights issue’5. To cut a long story short: we live in an age of (human) rights. But the mere existence and continuous ratification of international human rights instruments does not allow for the conclusion that there is a universal concept of human rights. Upon closer look, a regrettable lack of theory becomes obvious. Although the idea of universal human rights is being increasingly accepted, explicated and refined in the realm of international law, there is no universally shared theoretical foundation of such rights: ‘the morality of human rights is not well understood’6. While it is undoubtedly true that there is something deeply attractive about the idea of human rights, attractiveness alone cannot be a sustainable foundation for the ever-growing catalogue of alleged human rights. If one looks at the foundation of the concept of human rights, one soon has to realise that – as Griffin puts it – the term human right has become ‘seri-