Steering Clear of the Twin Shoals of a Rights-Based Morality and a Duty-Based Legality
in Between Rights and Responsibilities: A Fundamental Debate 51 (Stephan Parmentier, Hans Werdmödler and Michaël Merrigan eds., 2016).
Abstract
From the Publisher
In considering the extent to which human rights must be matched by human responsibilities, we might begin by asking, responsibilities of whom? International law imposes manifold duties on States to respect, ensure and fulfil human rights. It places duties on non-state organisations as well. For example, international labour law calls on business corporations not to employ forced labour, while international humanitarian law binds armed guerrilla groups not to attack civilians.
This essay focuses on a particular class of duty bearers: individual human beings as they relate to one another and to society at the community, national and international levels. In the terms suggested by René Foqué in this volume, the first two parts of this essay argue that morally-based ‘duties’ and ethically-based ‘responsibilities’ are and should be more demanding than mere reciprocal respect for rights. The essay then goes on to contend that these higher moral and ethical standards cannot safely or feasibly be incorporated in what Foqué calls legallybased ‘obligations’.