A Shared Moral Language
Human rights can give people with different cultures, religions and national identities a shared moral language to facilitate understanding. Instead, they are often used to push political positions and delegitimize opposing views.
Sincere commitment to human rights can lead to different conclusions.
Rights conflict. Applying them requires interpretation, judgment and trade-offs. Even people deeply committed to human rights may disagree about what they require.
For example, human rights can tell us that people have a right to be protected from discrimination. But they don’t tell us which policies will best achieve that. People can agree on the right while disagreeing about the solution.
When one proposed solution is presented as the human rights position, opposition to that policy can be made to look like opposition to human rights themselves.
Through short essays and fiction, Shalzed looks behind claims made in the name of human rights: What do human rights actually require? Where is there room for disagreement? And when are they being used to advance another cause?
Why an Alien?
Shalzed comes from a planet suffering from war and injustice. He learns about Earth’s system of human rights, and believes this may be the key to peace not only on Earth but across the galaxy.
Shalzed comes to Earth, and is deeply impressed by our laws and declarations. But before setting off, Universal Declaration of Human Rights in hand, to spread the word across the galaxy, he notices one thing: we still have war and injustice, too. He sees accusations of human rights violations inflaming conflicts rather than helping to solve them.
As he encounters our world as an outsider, Shalzed notices our contradictions, questions what we claim in the name of human rights, and asks whether the ideals he came to admire always make our conflicts better—or can sometimes make them worse.
After all, before bringing human rights back to his own planet, he’d better find out.
Human rights should be a shared language for understanding, not another weapon in our conflicts.
If you agree, join our community.
Join us in taking a critical look at what is being said and done in the name of human rights.
If you would like to contribute your own essays, have an idea, or would like to get involved, please see the contact page for how to be in touch.