Jeffrey Simpson misses some points about
rights in equality and about
our responsibility to promote rights in
his opinion piece on 23rd
January: "In a world full of rights, we
ignore our responsibilities."
In fact we do have a responsibility - it
is to promote rights in a UN
treaty for everyone. Efforts to ensure
rights for some, like safeguards
for the rights of refugees and migrants,
can ensure these rights for
all of us.
It is misleading to say rights are about
me. They are called "human"
rights. They are about everyone. They are
about all of us together in
this place. The UN human rights treaties
Canada aimed to capture in its
Charter of Rights boldly say up front that
all the rights are to be
granted "in equality" or, the other side
of the coin, "without
discrimination", see the articles 2 of
these treaties.
The duty we all have is set out in the UN
treaty, the Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights: "Realizing that the
individual, having duties to
other individuals and to the community to
which he belongs, is under a
responsibility to strive for the promotion
and observance of the rights
recognized in the present Covenant", see
the preface.
Most of the rights, but not some like the
prohibition of torture, can
be limited for legitimate purposes in law
to the extent necessary and
proportionate. The case law about rights
in the courts is dominated by
setting appropriate limits in particular
circumstances - which serve
the interests of the rest of us. So rights
are for all of us and about
all of us, together, in equality.
I look forward to seeing Jeffrey Simpson
take up his duty.
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