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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 18/10/12 15:18, parminder wrote:<br>
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<blockquote cite="mid:507FAD4C.1020205@itforchange.net" type="cite">
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<div class="moz-forward-container"><font face="Verdana">(1)
Consumer rights are not considered as human rights. Consumer
rights are based on private contracts, although the consumer
as the structurally weaker party in such contracts is provided
some special general protections which are embodied in
consumer rights. Human rights are based on the social
contract. (There are those who go even further and claim that
they are kind of part of our 'natural condition' but I dont
buy that.) I do not think we should include consumer rights
as part of human rights. It greatly dilutes the </font><font
face="Verdana">discourse of </font><font face="Verdana">human
rights, and their legitimacy. <br>
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<p class="western" lang="en-GB" align="JUSTIFY"><font face="Arial,
sans-serif">Contextually,
consumer rights are human rights, particularly when the issues
are
related to basic needs for human life such as food, water,
housing,
and safe environment. <a
href="http://www.ohlj.ca/archive/articles/32_3_deutch.pdf">Deutch
(1995)</a> elaborates the basis for the
basic consumer rights as human rights, or least as new human
rights. Through international consensus,
consumer rights have been given due recognition through the
adoption
of the <font color="#000000">United Nations Guidelines on
Consumer
Protection 1985 (expanded in 1999), which merits on the
rights-based
approach to emphasise on social justice for consumers who do
not have
or have limited access to basic goods and services.</font></font></p>
<p lang="en-GB" align="JUSTIFY"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">The
abuse of consumer rights has a malign effect on all sectors of
the
economy and consequences at all levels. In this context,
enabling
equal access to justice and ending impunity can be accomplished
through the promotion and defence of eight basic consumer
rights: The
right to safety; to be informed; to choose; to be heard; to
satisfaction of basic needs; to redress; to consumer education;
and,
to a healthy and safe environment. The right of all citizens to
a basic level of Internet access (in the sense that there is a
corresponding duty on the state to provide the same) is also
being increasingly recognised though has been debated back and
forth on this list.<br>
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-- <br>
<div class="moz-signature">
<p style="font-size:9.0pt;color:black"><b>Dr Jeremy Malcolm<br>
Senior Policy Officer<br>
Consumers International | the global campaigning voice for
consumers</b><br>
Office for Asia-Pacific and the Middle East<br>
Lot 5-1 Wisma WIM, 7 Jalan Abang Haji Openg, TTDI, 60000 Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia<br>
Tel: +60 3 7726 1599</p>
<p style="font-size:9.0pt;color:black"><b>Your rights, our mission
– download CI's Strategy 2015:</b> <a
href="http://consint.info/RightsMission">http://consint.info/RightsMission</a></p>
<p style="font-size:9.0pt;color:black">@Consumers_Int | <a
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