A "struggle approach" to human rights
pp. 171-190
in: Arend Soeteman (ed), Pluralism and law, Berlin, Springer, 2001Abstract
It is argued that legitimate resistance is the conceptual and historical counterpart. and the ultimate guarantor, of human rights. Human rights = legitimate resistance. Human rights find their most reliable roots in the struggles throughout history for the values that underlie these rights.The history of the link between human rights and resistance is investigated. The implications of this approach for a number of human rights issues — identifying human rights claims; the relationship between civil and political and socio-economic rights; the counter-majoritarian dilemma and the universalist/relativist debate — are investigated.The ongoing nature of history is emphasised, as well as the creative potential of members of the present generation to influence history, and as such the nature of human rights, through their struggles.