Wendy Wong is celebrating the normalcy and universality of human rights, arguing that the mainstreaming of human rights rhetoric is a giant step in the right direction. She acknowledges that many outside human rights circles have embraced—and even misused—human rights language, but in her view this isn’t a problem. “Human rights are ‘no longer revolutionary’,” she writes. “But this is a good thing, not a weakness.”
Yet, does draping all causes in rights-based rhetoric always work?
I worry there are diminishing returns if all causes are framed as human rights, as rights increasingly come into conflict with each other. Historically, there has been less global consensus around social and economic rights than civil and political rights. Moreover, despite the appeal of human rights framing, I worry there are diminishing returns if all causes are framed as human rights, as rights increasingly come into conflict with each other. The experience of framing health as a human right is particularly instructive.
