Debating Human Rights, by Daniel P.L. Chong

Abstract

Reviewed by : Gillian McFadyen, Aberystwyth UniversitySince beginning of 2015 alone, international news has been dominated by debates on human rights, be it migrant deaths on Mediterranean sea, threat of Boko Haram and Islamic State to regions in Africa and Middle East, attacks on right to freedom of speech and freedom of religion as in case of Charlie Hebdo and Bangladeshi bloggers, or recent and vote on gay marriage in Ireland. Human rights are continuously being challenged, debated, and in many instances, threatened. Although we are heading into seventh decade since signing of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948, human rights remain a contentious issue within international politics.Accordingly, Daniel P.L. Chong's Debating Human Rights is a welcome intervention. The ethos of book is to challenge dialogue surrounding human rights by offering critical and creative engagement with how we understand, implement, and uphold them. Chong reminds us that the boundaries of what we call 'human rights' are still shifting and open to interpretation (242). Through his work, he challenges traditional approach and aims to create new spaces to debate.The book is divided into four parts: global human rights system; civil and political rights; economic and social rights; and a concluding part on advancing human rights through debate. Across these four parts, Chong has written 14 chapters, allowing book to cover a wide array of content that is historical, theoretical, and empirical in nature. The first seven chapters address global human rights system and provide reader with a brief overview of main histories, institutions, philosophies, and responsibilities within human rights debates. Part two, on civil and political rights, has four chapters that treat in depth a key human rights debate. One chapter is dedicated to terrorism, one to freedom of speech, one to right to an abortion, and one to female circumcision. Part three, on economic and social rights, includes chapters dedicated to food, housing and health care, transnational corporations, right to health, and a final discussion on states and foreign aid. The concluding part raises a call to advance human rights through debate (241). The disputes surrounding human rights are still as important, 70 years on from UDHR, and Chong emphasizes that many roadblocks to progress remain; thus need to continue debating human rights.Each chapter provides an introduction to a human rights and then adopts two opposing arguments, which Chong describes as more than opinions; they are making theoretical and empirical claims about how world really works (3). In developing arguments, Chong tends to ground debates within standard international relations theories: realism, liberalism, and constructivism. …