[governance] rights based approach to the Internet (especially

[Matthias C. Kettemann]

Dear Linda, dear friends,

just a quick note on the "rights and duties" discussion from an 
international legal perspective. As I've written together with two 
colleagues in a submission to the 2007 Dialogue Forum on Internet Rights 
(http://forum.dfiritaly2007.gov.it/read.php?1,16), it is somewhat 
problematic to give equal weight to the notions of “rights” and 
“duties”. Attempts to formulate a Universal Declaration on the "Duties 
of Man" have not been successful – and rightly so. While the notion of 
“duties” is used in the American and African regional human rights 
protection systems, it can easily be misunderstood and misused by 
governments to limit human rights. Of course, human rights are not 
absolute. The interdependence of human rights already implies the 
obligation to respect the human rights of others, but any explicit 
reference to “duties” should rather be avoided.

Kind regards

Matthias


linda misek-falkoff schrieb:
> Such a broad smile engendered here.  Yes from this e-desk, very 
> interested. Do a lot with /rights and duties/* formulations, a 
> particular fun thing in law school.  If all that workload was fun.
>  
> Thanks Michael, Parminder, /et al./   Lead the way in the new WG.
>  
> :) LDMF.
>  
> P.S.
>  
> * With particularity here, two very prominent flavors one often 
> encounters: 
>  
> (1) _Rights_ have _Duties_ that come with Rights (same actor);
>  
> (2) Our _Rights_ impose _Duties_ on Others (n-actors)  - (not so 
> comfortable /vice versa/ - Others' Rights impose Duties on Us). !!!


-- 
Mag. Matthias C. Kettemann
Forschungsassistent / Research Assistant

Institut für Völkerrecht und Internationale
Beziehungen, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz /
Institute of International Law and International
Relations, University of Graz

Universitätsstraße 15/A4, 8010 Graz, Austria

T +43 316 380 6711 (office)
M +43 676 701 7175 (mobile)
F +43 316 380 9455 (fax)
E matthias.kettemann at uni-graz.at 


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.igcaucus.org/pipermail/governance/attachments/20080417/5aa88bb3/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
     governance at lists.cpsr.org
To be removed from the list, send any message to:
     governance-unsubscribe at lists.cpsr.org

For all list information and functions, see:
     http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance