In all countries of the world, human rights are formally recognized in one way or another, either as in the People＇s Republic of China by a separate article in the Constitution, or in Germany as fundamental rights of...In all countries of the world, human rights are formally recognized in one way or another, either as in the People＇s Republic of China by a separate article in the Constitution, or in Germany as fundamental rights of the Constitution and/or by ratification of international treaties. At the same time, human rights are controver- sial in their general understanding and in many specific questions. They are often disregarded or abused as an instrument of power politics. And the institutions of control, enforcement and the legal protection could be improved in many ways. On the one hand, you can speak of a success story of human rights since the World War II, and on the other hand, specific design, effective protection and enforcement are only realized in approaches, so some speak of an impending failure of the project of human rights. There are many reasons for this ambivalent assessment. An important reason seems to be that even the ideas about what human rights are, are unclear and controversial. Many see the human rights unhistorical, as if they were eternal ideas, and adversely affect human rights with too high expectations. Others see in them only moral rights, or reduce them to mere political instruments. Finally, some doubt whether the human rights because they are historically developed in Western cultures, can be truly universal rights. Therefore, a conceptual and argumentative clarification should be attempted from a philosophical perspec- tive. This will be the aim of the following three papers. The first two papers date back to lectures on human rights, Georg Lohmann hold at Fudan University in April 2014. The third paper was annexed by courtesy of Regina Kreide, who is an important scholar on the subject of human rights in Germany, but also internationally.展开更多
In this study, I show that human fights are historical projects. They are legal inventions and institutional structures and respond to historical injustices and serious atrocities suffered by people, or which threaten...In this study, I show that human fights are historical projects. They are legal inventions and institutional structures and respond to historical injustices and serious atrocities suffered by people, or which threaten them. It is useful therefore to first distinguish, both historically and systematically, different conceptions of human fights from a concept of human fights. I will distinguish three conceptions： national, international and transnational. Included in national conceptions are the human fights declarations of North America （1776） and France （1789）. The starting event of the international conception is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations after the Second World War in 1948. And it can be argued that a transnational conception of human fights that better fits the globalised world and the already global developments in intemational law and governance is needed.展开更多
Tensions and oppositions between the individual and community have accompanied the discourse on human rights from the beginning. I want to first recall how in the UDHR （1948） and in the major human rights treaties, ...Tensions and oppositions between the individual and community have accompanied the discourse on human rights from the beginning. I want to first recall how in the UDHR （1948） and in the major human rights treaties, the rights and obligations of individuals are regulated towards communities. I then want to investigate whether the talk of ＂collective human rights＂, understood as ＂third- generation＂ rights, are of equal value to be set with individual human rights. Against communitarian arguments for the primacy of community-related duties one can stress an expansion of a liberal concept of human rights by the inclusion of justice demands and social human rights. To show that special community needs can be protected and promoted through individual human rights and national col- lective rights, I used the example of the protection of minorities. Finally, I will explain why human rights are not a comprehensive theory of the good and illustrate with this the limits, and also the original strength of human rights. We should not overestimate human rights, but also we should be aware that a sober understanding of human rights is philosophically reasonable, legally possible and politically of great importance.展开更多
文摘In all countries of the world, human rights are formally recognized in one way or another, either as in the People＇s Republic of China by a separate article in the Constitution, or in Germany as fundamental rights of the Constitution and/or by ratification of international treaties. At the same time, human rights are controver- sial in their general understanding and in many specific questions. They are often disregarded or abused as an instrument of power politics. And the institutions of control, enforcement and the legal protection could be improved in many ways. On the one hand, you can speak of a success story of human rights since the World War II, and on the other hand, specific design, effective protection and enforcement are only realized in approaches, so some speak of an impending failure of the project of human rights. There are many reasons for this ambivalent assessment. An important reason seems to be that even the ideas about what human rights are, are unclear and controversial. Many see the human rights unhistorical, as if they were eternal ideas, and adversely affect human rights with too high expectations. Others see in them only moral rights, or reduce them to mere political instruments. Finally, some doubt whether the human rights because they are historically developed in Western cultures, can be truly universal rights. Therefore, a conceptual and argumentative clarification should be attempted from a philosophical perspec- tive. This will be the aim of the following three papers. The first two papers date back to lectures on human rights, Georg Lohmann hold at Fudan University in April 2014. The third paper was annexed by courtesy of Regina Kreide, who is an important scholar on the subject of human rights in Germany, but also internationally.
文摘In this study, I show that human fights are historical projects. They are legal inventions and institutional structures and respond to historical injustices and serious atrocities suffered by people, or which threaten them. It is useful therefore to first distinguish, both historically and systematically, different conceptions of human fights from a concept of human fights. I will distinguish three conceptions： national, international and transnational. Included in national conceptions are the human fights declarations of North America （1776） and France （1789）. The starting event of the international conception is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations after the Second World War in 1948. And it can be argued that a transnational conception of human fights that better fits the globalised world and the already global developments in intemational law and governance is needed.
文摘Tensions and oppositions between the individual and community have accompanied the discourse on human rights from the beginning. I want to first recall how in the UDHR （1948） and in the major human rights treaties, the rights and obligations of individuals are regulated towards communities. I then want to investigate whether the talk of ＂collective human rights＂, understood as ＂third- generation＂ rights, are of equal value to be set with individual human rights. Against communitarian arguments for the primacy of community-related duties one can stress an expansion of a liberal concept of human rights by the inclusion of justice demands and social human rights. To show that special community needs can be protected and promoted through individual human rights and national col- lective rights, I used the example of the protection of minorities. Finally, I will explain why human rights are not a comprehensive theory of the good and illustrate with this the limits, and also the original strength of human rights. We should not overestimate human rights, but also we should be aware that a sober understanding of human rights is philosophically reasonable, legally possible and politically of great importance.
