The Twilight of Human Rights Law. Eric Posner on the "Commission on Unalienable Rights" and the Redefinition of International Human Rights The human rights wars heat up Eric Posner July ... human rights were understood in either “liberal” (think of the US Bill of Rights) or “social democratic” (think of Sweden, or anyway what we like to imagine Sweden to be) terms. International human rights clinics give law students a chance to learn about an area of law in which they are interested in a more practical and hands-on way than they would in the classroom. Eric Posner 7:36 PM. They argue that we need more treaties, with stricter obligations and better-funded, more powerful international institutions. ).As always, I am sympathetic to Posner’s views here and admire his willingness to take on yet another sacred cow. Eric Posner is Kirkland and Ellis Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. That is something that I agree is undesirable, and I am glad that his critics don’t dispute that point.

They may not always provide definitive answers — any text requires interpretation — but they codify a widely endorsed set of principles from which the conversation can begin.I don’t want to paint an excessively bleak picture.
Human Rights Watch's proposed reforms would raise the cost of labor, and so reduce the number of workers who benefit from the system. By Eric A. Posner. Yes, their projects may be largely politically motivated, but there are many law school clinics with political motivations or at least leanings and that does not entirely detract from their educational and practical value. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. He is the author of several books, including The Twilight of Human Rights Law. If students are interested in pursuing international human rights law, the fact that it’s a fuzzy and undeveloped area of law is something they’ll have to deal with when they go out in practice, so they might as well learn up front what it will be like to operate in such a field.Law schools need to make hard assessments about whether such clinics are worth it for their students, and perhaps demand such clinics ensure that a certain percentage of their work is indeed traditional legal skills training (like a political asylum clinic, etc.). Would people really be better off as a result?Since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the U.N. in 1948, numerous formal treaties have been negotiated between nations that recognize hundreds of human rights – including political rights and civil rights, the rights to work and have access to health care and education. $21.95, £14.99. This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t care when governments abuse their citizens. Twitter: @EricAPosner But even I think his attack on international human rights clinics sweeps a bit too broadly. The law doesn’t do much; we should face that fact and move on. But more focused and pragmatic interventions, including relying heavily on foreign aid for economic development, rather than coercion or shaming, is the better way to go.Eric is taking on a straw man by claiming that the human rights movement’s answer to violations is “more treaties.” Yes, over the years new treaties have been adopted to flesh out rights for certain categories of people — be they women or people with disabilities — or to fill in ambiguities in the law, such as explaining that the prohibition of indiscriminate warfare bars antipersonnel landmines and cluster munitions. But there is no evidence that the treaties have played a causal role in these developments.That governments violate human rights is hardly surprising. But some critics say that these treaties are too idealistic, and not easily enforced.Eric sees treaties as “utopian” statements of overly ambitious goals that cannot possibly be met, but that’s not what government officials say. But the human rights movement spends the vast majority of its energy trying to enforce existing rights rather than seeking to create new ones.The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights -- which guarantees rights to work with fair pay, education, welfare and health care -- has been ratified by 162 countries. Posner asks the right questions, even if I think his final answer is not quite right.But I think Posner’s critique reminds us that international human rights law clinics are outside the traditional box of law school clinics, and that they do risk becoming a platform for pure political advocacy (and training students in pure political advocacy). x, 185. - Volume 29 Issue 2 My law school (Hofstra) has a just such a clinic focused on asylum hearings in deportation proceedings within the US immigration law system. Spain’s unemployment rate is 24 percent, in part, because laws that ensure employees are well-paid and receive job security also deter employers from hiring them.

They don’t plead, “I signed up for the impossible so don’t hold me to it,” but rather, “I didn’t shoot those protesters,” or “I’m not imprisoning her for criticizing me.” They typically accept that the right involved is legitimate and contend that they comply.

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