|
|
| Social Security: the provision of economic security and welfare for individuals by the government through programs and direct payments provided by public funds and/or payments collected from employers and employees. |
| Progressive Realization: the constant improvement of human rights. |
It is worth examining the common conception in the Anglo-American tradition that rights are solely a form of personal entitlement. Many in Asia and the former Soviet Union, for example, argue that rights are equally an entitlement and a duty. Individuals have a reciprocal obligation to respect the rights of others if they expect to have their own rights respected in turn.
Take, for example, the right to religious expression. This right ensures that members of religious minorities are protected from interference in the exercise of their religious freedom; at the same time, it means that they must display the same tolerance when it comes to other religious practices that may differ from their own. In taking advantage of one’s own freedoms, one accepts an obligation to respect the freedoms of others. Only in this way can the rights of all be protected and a measure of social harmony be achieved.
Systems of social organization that give equal priority to both the community and the individual tend to emphasize the dual nature of rights as both freedoms and duties. Society as a whole can only thrive when everyone fulfills his or her obligations to their fellow citizens. Under this view, the ability to exercise rights must first be earned by respecting them in others.1 This principle is enshrined in Article 29 of the Universal Declaration, which states, in its first clause, that “Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.”2
In addition to being both privileges and duties, some “rights” are more properly understood as aspirations, that is, expressions of a common goal rather than strictly delimited, legally enforceable, rights. The rights contained in the ICESCR—including employment rights (Articles 6-8); social security (Article 9); family rights, including those of mothers and children (Article 10); food and health (Articles 11-12); education (Articles 13-14), and rights of cultural life (Article 15)—are aspirations regarding the ideal standard of living (economic, social and cultural) that every society should strive to achieve.3
To take one example: it would be difficult to hold a country accountable for providing adequately for the health of all its citizens; rather, in signing a convention like the ICESCR, states pledge to work to realize such goals over time and to the best of their abilities. Articles 2 and 4 of the ICESCR specify the aspirational nature of the obligation states undertake in ratifying this particular convention. It is unreasonable to expect governments to meet these standards immediately because such obligations are so complex.
Instead, provision is made for the progressive realization of aspirational rights: “Each State Party to the present Covenant undertakes to take steps, individually and through international assistance and co-operation, especially economic and technical, to the maximum of its available resources, with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of rights recognized in the present Covenant by all appropriate means, including particularly the adoption of legislative measures.”4 Thus, governments are expected to keep these goals in mind and to make consistent, gradual progress in turning them into reality.
2 ibid.; “Universal Declaration.”
3 “International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.”