Who’s Responsible for Human Rights?
dnorris10 January 25th, 2006
Erin Kelly, associate professor of philosophy at Tufts University, will open the 2006 Great Decisions Lecture Series by examining “Who’s Responsible for Human Rights?” on Wednesday, Jan. 25, at The College of Wooster. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be held in Gault Recital Hall of Scheide Music Center (525 E. University St.), beginning at 7:30 p.m.
“Human rights are universal,” said Kelly. “We ascribe them to all persons. But what is the proper distribution of the responsibility to protect human rights? Who is obligated to respond to a human rights crisis? I argue that those who are responsible for addressing a human rights crisis must be authorized to do so by the international community. Further, I believe that as members of the international community deliberating about how to distribute responsibility to respond, we should determine which parties with resources to help have assumed an obligation to assist by virtue of their participation and stature within the international community. We should look at which states have taken on a leadership role and have asserted moral authority within international relations. The obligation of these states to serve the cause of human rights is a condition of their legitimacy as world leaders, including their authority to compel other societies to comply with international law.”
Kelly, who specializes in ethics, political philosophy and the philosophy of law, focuses her research on social contract theories of justice and morality. She has written papers on such topics as toleration, human rights, moral responsibility, and philosophies of punishment. She earned her B.A. at Stanford, her M.A. at Columbia, and her Ph.D. at Harvard, where she earned the Emily and John Carrier Dissertation Prize. In 2003 she was a faculty fellow at the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics and the Professions at Harvard University.