7 Right Holders and Duty Bearers

Nothing seems to be more trivial than to state that human beings are the holders of human rights. In a moral sense, no doubts can arise as to who deserves to be endowed with human rights. It was already pointed out that human rights have been conceived of as instruments permitting human persons to live in freedom and with dignity. Within a legal framework, by contrast, any analytical research must attempt to show that the rights concerned constitute true entitlements that have a specific relevance within that framework. At international level, most human rights...