<html><head><base href="x-msg://2084/"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><br><div><div>On Jan 17, 2012, at 4:24 PM, Kettemann, Matthias (<a href="mailto:matthias.kettemann@uni-graz.at">matthias.kettemann@uni-graz.at</a>) wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; ">And no, human rights are not “more akin to ‘aspirations’ than enforceable rights”. Human rights are enforceable rights. States need to respect, protect and implement human rights. That violations of human rights occur and that some human rights can only be implemented progressively is not an argument for the lack of their binding character but only evidence of the imperfect nature of the world.</span></blockquote><br></div><div>The problem is, that if one thing is good for one person it may be damaging for another.</div><div><br></div><div>Let's go back to the "food" (because most people seems to understand it) example:</div><div><br></div><div>A very hungry man walks by an beautiful garden full of fruit trees, with ripe fruits. The hungry man decides to take the risk, break in an feed himself with fruits.</div><div><br></div><div>Is it it "human right" to have access to food?</div><div><br></div><div>Is this right enforceable?</div><div><br></div><div>Depending on many circumstances, there might be different outcomes from this person "enforcing" their human right to food (just few incomplete examples):</div><div><br></div><div>- nobody might notice, or care.</div><div>- that person gets shoot on the sport. then depending on other circumstances, possible are</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>= the society declares that person thief and mocks his name;</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>= the society declares the one who shot them murderer and kills them too or puts them to jail;</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>= nobody notices or cares;</div><div>- the owner invites the hungry person to more food "come on, I have better things to eat than those fruits"</div><div>- things are investigated and the owner gets fined for not locking their garden better.</div><div><br></div><div>Violation of human rights happen all the time. There is no other way for violations of human rights to stop, except all humans being dead. </div><div><br></div><div>Everything in this area is a matter of compromise. The compromise, however depends on the world view each community has and varies wildly by culture.</div><div><br></div><div>Unfortunately, Internet is global and respects no bothers. Nor it can be made to respect borders, as many are trying.</div><div>Internet is really opening the human culture to a new level of interaction and new level of exercising "human rights".</div><div><br></div><div>Daniel</div><br></body></html>