Universal Declaration of Human Rights

2023 writings, article

Universal Values at Bay

Michael Ignatieff / 15 December 2023

The moral universalism enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights obliges us to recognize the humanity of others and the reality of their suffering. If that doctrine sounds naive in today’s world, it is because we have allowed malignant spoilers to smother this foundational intuition.

article

The Attack on Human Rights

Michael Ignatieff / 1 November 2001

Shared among equals, rights are not the universal credo of a global society, not a secular religion, but something much more limited and yet just as valuable: the shared vocabulary from which our arguments can begin, and the bare human minimum from which differing ideas of human flourishing can take root.