Weight in Human Rights

            In his discussion of human rights, Amartya Sen tackles the coherence critique. According to this perspective, a right has a “perfect obligation- a specific duty of a particular agent for the realization of that right” (230). Since human rights lack a precise and corresponding duty, these rights are not considered as substantial. Sen highlights that human rights should not be disregarded on this ground. By invoking Kant’s “imperfect obligation,” he effectively handles this critique by highlighting how human rights call for a general demand: “While it is not the specific duty of any given individual to make sure that the person has her rights fulfilled, the claims can be generally addressed to all those who are in a position to help” (230). In the scope of human rights, although it is not any particular person’s responsibility to fulfill these rights, we ought to help those in need. Sen sets up an underlying, universal obligation to help others have access to basic human rights.

Even though Sen provides a clear picture of a general demand required by human rights, he neglects to include specificity on whom we should help first. Under Sen’s current model, if we are in the position to help others, it is uncertain whether we should prioritize helping the local homeless or the starving children in India. Considering our previous discussion on relative position, I would like to push Sen a little bit further and wonder if he would approve of a weighing system to determine whose rights to fulfill first. While Sen proposes that we have a universal obligation to help others, I would argue that limited resources compel us to prioritize our aid. If we accept a weighing system, would those who live in our community have a greater weight than those far away from us or would there be no preference all since they are all human beings? Sen states that the general demand from human rights is directed towards “those who are in a position to help” (230). It seems that since we are more equipped to help those around us, we should prioritize helping others in our immediate vicinity.