Human rights Flashcards
What do we think of human rights?
It is freedom from specific abuses or restrictions that are proscribed (forbidden).
What are Proscriptive rights?
Things that a government cannot do to groups, such as discriminate based on race, ethnicity, or gender.
What are prescriptive rights?
The basic necessities that society and its government are arguably prescribed (obligated) to try to prove in order to assure certain qualitative standards of life for everyone in the community.
Example:
-Education
-Nutrition
-housing
-sanitation
-healthcare
And other basics necessary to live with dignity and security.
Why is proscriptive negative?
Because they involve what cannot be done legally.
Why is prescriptive positive?
Because they place a positive obligation on societies and their governments to ensure that these obligations are met.
Scholars suggest that the most fruitful way to think about human rights is to begin with the idea of
“Ultimately they are supposed to serve basic Human needs”
These basic needs are…
1) Survival needs: to avoid violent groups and individuals to be free from violence.
2) Well-being needs: To avoid misery, right for nutrition, biological wants, and movement.
3) Identity needs: To avoid alienation, the right to establish emotional bonds, and preserve cultural heritage.
4) freedom needs- Avoid repression, the right to express opinions, have a say in common policy, and choose their jobs, where to live, and lifestyle.
Compare Procriptive and prescriptive Human rights:
Pro:
Negative, civil political
Pre:
Postive, economical social.
What’s the difference between individual rights and community rights?
Individual: The rights of the individual are more important than those of society (west)
Community rights: The good of the community takes procedures over the good of the individuals (East)
What do Universalists believe?
That all humans possess the same rights and that they are immutable (unchanging). This perspective begins with the idea that rights originate from outside a society.
Sources:
1) Theology leads many universalists to believe that rights are granted by a deity, and may not be transgressed by humans.
2) the very nature of human existence, rights to life.
Relativists believe that
that rights are relative to culture.
-Rights that are the product of a society’s contemporary values.
Explain how relativists believe that rights a the product of a society’s contemporary values.
They believe that in a world of diverse cultures, no single standard of humans exists or is likely to exist shot of the world becoming homogenized culturally.
Do Relatives believe, “ Rights are not timeless; they can change with changing social norms.”
Yes.
Realtivst contend that trying to impose human rights standards on the world stage constitutes
cultural imperialism
What is individualism?
A value system in which the rights of an individual are more important than those of society.
-Western states
Communitarianism
A system where the good of the community takes precedence over the good of the individual.
-Non-western states.
Barriers to progress on Human rights?
-Sovereignty
-Cultural standards are different
-Politically selectively
-Concerns for HRS, are of low priority to most states.
