Abstract

This chapter discusses the debate that ensued from the promulgation of sundry human duties declarations over the past two decades. These declarations argue that especially Western liberal democracies overemphasize individual rights and personal freedom at the cost of our duties and of an understanding of freedom as involving necessarily a sense of responsibility. This imbalance between rights and duties, between freedom and responsibility, results, they maintain, in an unbridled individualism which could lead to conflict and discord.These human duties declarations have been sharply criticized by human rights scholars. In general, the critics argue that such declarations are either superfluous, as human rights documents already make ample mention of rights-based duties, or, insofar as the human duties declarations contain duties that go beyond rights-based duties, they are dangerous. This chapter explores the debate between the drafters of these various declarations and their critics. It, furthermore, provides an overview of the individual duties present in the major human rights documents in order to assess the critics’ claim concerning the superfluity of human duties declarations. This discussion then culminates in the selection of two individual duties that are particularly contentious, namely duties to the community and duties of aid to the global poor, which will function as case studies in the last three chapters.Ultimately, the discussion of human duties declarations and the ensuing debate concerning their desirability will serve as a springboard for reflections on the importance of a renewed focus on duties, and the relation between rights and duties.