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OT: Human Rights Framework 30-Apr-2010 At 10:54:54 PM Hendo

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Dave, as for human rights,

On 30/04/2010 dave h. wrote:
>So recently I was wondering what people thought about the following topics:
>
>
>1) The federal government's recent 'human rights framework'
> The framework provides funding for education about human rights, streamlines
>existing anti-discrimination laws, and requires each Bill introduced to
>Parliament to be accompanied by a Statement of Compatibility (IE compatibility
>with Australia's international human rights obligations).

I think anti-discrimination sentiment is getting a bit too much momentum. People are different hence discrimination is necessary and unavoidable, you can’t see everyone as being identical. Whether people think they discriminate or not they do it all the time and mostly it isn’t bad. I don’t know if I want the law trying to say I am identical to everyone else.

>
>2) Specifically, the decision not to enact a federal Charter of Rights
>
>3) The need for laws protecting human rights.
>
>Feel free to challenge any of the assumptions present in the above statements
>(do human rights exist at all? Or only so far as the law recognises them?
>Or to the extent that they can be enforced? etc)

I agree in some ways with the idea that human rights are fictitious, human rights are not universal, one clear reason being because not everyone will agree with them. Certainly they only exist in the human imagination, they are not fundamental rules of nature. They probably conflict with many ‘rules of the jungle’ which are still here and always will be no matter how hard we try to meddle with them. Then you have the problem that if you give people something it isn’t respected nearly so well as if they have to earn it/fight for it (look at the way public infrastructure is treated by many). Having said that you can argue that we have progressively earned the ability to create laws for human rights and this is the eventuation of an ongoing battle. If you try to define something complex such as this it won’t be perfect and you will only be able to change it with great difficulty.

In general people are not equal and should not expect to be. I’d like to keep ideas about my and others ‘rights’ up in the air a little and open to argument. Some of the ideas sound nice and happy if you don’t think too hard but in many respects I don’t really have too much faith in the practical implementation of laws.