Advancing Human Rights

by Michael Mintrom

Human rights come into question in times of crisis. But should we wait for crises to arise before we discuss these rights? Advancing human rights should be everyone’s business, not just that of a select group of public interest lawyers, conspiracy theorists, or those who prefer tinfoil hats. Human rights are routinely debated in the wake of scandals. Think about the quality of care in nursing homes, the treatment of illegal immigrants, and police practices towards Indigenous people in custody—all examples of crises that demand remedies and receive less than satisfactory solutions. Our rights certainly became an issue of heated public debate during the COVID-19 pandemic. Michael Mintrom argues that the advancement of human rights is an our efforts today will create ongoing benefits for society. He finds the answers in enhancing the quality and accessibility of early childhood education, shutting down the school-to-prison pipeline, and assisting former prisoners during their re-entry into society. In a caring society, the question of how to advance human rights should lie at the heart of public policymaking.

96 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2022

Reviews

[Jason Harris · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book because I have great interest in the topic it purports to address. But I find the author's paradigm to be profoundly flawed. In his paradigm, human rights are something to be "advanced," not protected. Human rights becomes a sort of ideal to which we strive; a call for relative, improved general wellbeing. Even if that requires trampling on human rights to attain.

For instance, bullying is not just seen as a social problem, but a failure to live up to our standard of human rights, and therefore something to be stamped out. Never mind that this will require stamping out any views not in keeping with the mainstream; that it will require state-sponsored indoctrination; that it will marginalise and stigmatise others for merely having views that do not fall into the mainstream.

"Rights" in this paradigm become an activistic tool for progressing a particular social and—let's be honest—dogmatic vision. And the fact that such an activistic model degrades true human rights is clearly on display as this book addresses many fringe issues, but ignores a dozen areas in Australian society where human rights actually are being threatened or violated (employment, tenancy, medical privacy, disability, child protection, extreme poverty, domestic violence, etc.).

In short, I read this because I'm passionate about the protection of human rights in Australia, but was disappointed that the topic was hijacked to push a skewed agenda. And worse, calls for a legislative systemisation of that hijacking.