image

Human Rights and Their Limits

Audio:
Location: OSI-New York
Event Date: October 15, 2009
Speakers: Aryeh Neier, Wiktor Osiatynski , Richard A. Wilson

In Human Rights and Their Limits (Cambridge University Press), Wiktor Osiatyński examines how the concept of human rights has developed in waves: each call for rights serves the purpose of social groups that try to stop further proliferation of rights after their own goals are reached.

Although a state of unlimited democracy threatens rights, excessive rights can limit resources indispensable for democracy. Human Rights and Their Limits argues that although rights are a prerequisite of freedom, they should be balanced with other values that are indispensable for social harmony and personal happiness.

Speakers

  • Wiktor Osiatyński, Professor, Central European University Legal Program
  • Richard Wilson, Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Human Rights Institute, University of Connecticut
  • Aryeh Neier, President, Open Society Institute
back to the top of the page
Related Information

Centers for Change: Drop-In Centers Facilitate Sex Worker-Led Human Rights Advocacy
February 2012
Drop-in centers are often the only places where sex workers can access health care, legal counseling, and other social services. These centers also play a key role in mobilizing activism by sex workers to change the laws, policies, and practices that violate their human rights.

Sterilization of Women and Girls with Disabilities
November 2011
This briefing paper produced as part of the Campaign to Stop Torture in Health Care outlines various international human rights standards that prohibit forced sterilization of women and girls with disabilities. It also offers several recommendations for improving laws, policies, and professional guidelines governing sterilization practices.

Taking a Stand: The Evolution of Human Rights
OSI-New York
October 24, 2011
audio AUDIO
The Open Society Foundations present a conversation with Juan Méndez, whose new book sets forth an authoritative and incisive examination of torture, detention, exile, armed conflict, and genocide.

About  |  Initiatives  |  Grants, Scholarships & Fellowships  |  Resource Center  |  Newsroom  |  Site Map  |  Legal  |  Contact


Creative Commons License
Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative License.
©2012 Open Society Foundations. Some rights reserved.