Human rights inflation

The concept of human-rights inflation expresses the belief that people, such as human rights activists, claim increasing numbers and varieties of human rights. For example, Karel Vasak, has theorised a development through three generations of human rights:^[1]

1. civil and political
2. socio-economic and cultural
3. solidarity-related

Commentators who identify trends of growing the cases labelled "rights" sometimes suspect that an increasing number of claims will erode the regard for those human rights which they consider more fundamental. Fears of human-rights inflation have been expressed since the mid-twentieth century.^[2] Economic and social rights are particularly likely to be cited as examples of human rights inflation.^[3]

The philosopher Zhao Tingyang argues that the prioritization of human rights above all else inevitably leads to a proliferation of claimed rights: "If a demand for certain kinds of freedoms and interests can be made into a right, then any and all demands for freedoms and interests can be made into rights on the same grounds." According to Zhao, this dynamic leads to confusion about values and can cause society to get out of control, a development which he says has already begun to emerge.^[4][5]

References

1. Kaisary, Philip (6 January 2022). "The Haitian Revolution and Socio-economic rights". In Jensen, Steven L. B.; Walton, Charles (eds.). Social Rights and the Politics of Obligation in History. Human Rights in History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 84. ISBN 9781009020664. Retrieved 20 November 2022. [...] liberté (first-generation civil and political rights), égalité (second-generation socio-economic and cultural rights) and fraternité (third-generation rights of solidarity).
2. Theilen, Jens T. (2021). "The inflation of human rights: A deconstruction". Leiden Journal of International Law. 34 (4): 831–854. doi:10.1017/S0922156521000297. ISSN 0922-1565. Worries about the inflation of human rights are not new – indeed, they can be traced back at the very least to mid-century responses to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
3. Theilen, Jens T. (2021). "The inflation of human rights: A deconstruction". Leiden Journal of International Law. 34 (4): 831–854. doi:10.1017/S0922156521000297. ISSN 0922-1565. It is remarkable, in particular, how consistently socio-economic human rights in the form of welfare rights have been denied the status of 'real' human rights on the basis of the anti-inflation mindset.
4. Han, Sang-Jin (1 January 2020). "A Universal but Non-Hegemonic Approach to Human Rights in International Politics". Confucianism and Reflexive Modernity: Bringing Community back to Human Rights in the Age of Global Risk Society. pp. 102–117. doi:10.1163/9789004415492_008. ISBN 978-90-04-41549-2. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
5. 赵汀阳 (2018-12-18). ""预付人权"：一种非西方的普遍人权理论". 中国社会科学网. Archived from the original on 2021-05-18. 既然超越了善，权利优先原则就必定蕴含着一个关于权利的悖论：假如对某种自由和利益的要求可以被搞成一种权利，那么任何一种并且所有对自由和利益的要求就都可以按照同样理由被搞成权利。这个悖论将是价值混乱和社会失控的根源，而且已经开始表现在人权的实际发展状况中。

Further reading

• Avbelj, Matej (2018). "Human rights inflation in the European Union". The Fragmented Landscape of Fundamental Rights Protection in Europe The Role of Judicial and Non-Judicial Actors. Elgar Online. pp. 7–24. ISBN 9781786436054.
• Baxi, Upendra (2001). "Too Many, or Too Few, Human Rights". Human Rights Law Review. 1: 1–10. doi:10.1093/hrlr/1.1.1.
• Clément, Dominique (2018). Debating Rights Inflation in Canada: A Sociology of Human Rights. Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. ISBN 978-1-77112-276-4.
• Ignatieff, Michael (2014). "Rights Inflation and Role Conflict in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights". The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Conscience for the World. Brill. pp. 33–44. ISBN 9789004254251.
• Letsas, George (2007). "Public Morals, Consensus, and Rights Inflation: A Critique". A Theory of Interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-920343-7.