Defining Rights

Campbell’s definition of rights

Claims to entitlements that individuals and perhaps groups can justifiably make on other people and organisations

Iverson’s definition of rights

Enforceable moral claims

Dworkin’s definition of rights

Sit above ordinary political decisions

Entitlement

Significant interests or expectations that can be expressed positively or negatively

Subjects of rights

Individuals

Groups

Non-human entities

Objects of claims

Claims are primarily made against governments and institutions of power

Challenge of claims

Functional power of large corporate interests which do not always fit the traditional individual-versus-state paradigm

Legal positivism

Rights depend on law for their existence

Natural law

Asserts that rights are natural or moral, existing independently of laws or customs

NZBORA interpretation of legal positivism and natural law

NZBORA reflects aspects of both positivism and natural law

Particular NZBORA natural law phrasing

While the rights are provided through a piece of legislation (positivism) and can be set aside by other laws, the Long Title of the Act states its purpose is to "affirm" human rights. 

Universality

Assumption that rights are universal and apply to everyone

Universality critique

Assumption is often criticized as a Western conceit that prioritizes the individual as the base building block of society

Categories and generations of human rights

Human rights are categorized into three primary generations based on their nature and the period of their emergence. 

First generation of human rights

Civil and political rights

Second generation of human rights

Economic, social, and cultural rights

Third generation of human rights

Emerging category that attaches rights to nature or specific natural features

NZ mechanism for the protection of civil and political rights

NZBORA

Factors contributing to the lack of domestic legislation for second-generation rights

Alignment with existing laws

Enforcement challenges

Definitional ambiguity

Why are human rights protections a necessity?

Defence against tyranny and the abuse of power

Two examples of severe human rights violations

Guatanamo Bay

Alligator Alcatraz

Human rights culture in NZ

History of being a leader in democratic rights e.g. universal suffrage (1893), labour standards, etc

NZ UN Human Rights Council 2024 report findings (4)

Persistence of racism

Domestic or sexual violence against women and children

Disproportionate Maori representation in prison

Lack of legislative transparency