Dear Najib,

from my perspective the situation is not going to be better, especially in the field of "third-generation" rights such as the right to peace, the right to health environment, the right to a fair distribution of resources, etc. After recent Economic Forum in Davos it is obvious that the world is still more and more divided into the rich and the poor and that the elite of world can say it really nicely, but the concrete steps are lacking. Also the most of global declarations on human rights, the equality and so on are full of vague statements, but concrete measures and time schedules are not presented. The problem is also the enforcement of such rights (together with rights of first and second generation), especially in cases where they are violated to a large extent. You can go to European Court of Human Rights, the Court in the Hague, you can call a media, that´s fine, but what´s next? Of course, in the developed world the situation with protection of fundamental human rights is not so bad, and also Sustainable Development Goals could bring some improvement, but in general I´m a little bit pessimistic, because of the growth of nationalism and the rise od leaders with dictatorial tendencies. I strongly hope that future will be better than it seems to be now :).

Best regards,

Barbara

Thank you dear Barbara, let’s hope.

Human rights are lovely concepts but not enforced , the Australian Constitution - expressed and implied rights are ignore, overridden or interpeted to suit what ever the purpose at the time and even legal rights/laws are used as means to subjugate minorities and maintain the domination and the power of the majorities.

@Andrea, unfortunately, this seems true in most places.

Sorry,

but in my opinion there is more dangers than hopes in the field of human rights. Human being and its rights become to be in danger because of other people behaviours and decisions. Many more or less formal movements try to dedicate human rights to non-human beings. Human become to be endangered spece.

Let me mention only Great Ape Project - http://www.projetogap.org.br

which propose to extend the rights in the same way to all the great primates: humans, chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans.

Another example is European Parliament resolution of 16 February 2017 with recommendations to the Commission on Civil Law Rules on Robotics (2015/2103(INL)) - http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P8-TA-2017-0051+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN - in which European Parliament calls European Commission to analyse and consider the implications of all possible legal solutions, such as inter alia:

- "creating a specific legal status for robots in the long run, so that at least the most sophisticated autonomous robots could be established as having the status of electronic persons responsible for making good any damage they may cause, and possibly applying electronic personality to cases where robots make autonomous decisions or otherwise interact with third parties independently".

And last but not least, please note case of "Fran Pepper" and the decision of Nadja Vananroye - major of Hasselt in Belgium - https://www.rtbf.be/info/insolites/detail_hasselt-le-robot-fran-pepper-est-inscrit-au-registre-des-naissances-de-la-ville?id=9516904

The "child-robot" was registered at the civil registry office in Haaselt, Belgium. It received the female name Fran and the surname Pepper. It even has "parents", as befits a robot, two scientists - Astrid Hannes and Francis Fox (heads of IT departments from the Belgian university PXL). The robot received a birth certificate, signed by mayor of Haaselt. Finally it obtained citizenship of Belgium.

If such things can happen in our world, if it can happen in front of our eyes, how we can feel good about human rights? It is propably the last time to start important debate about human rights for human! Not for great apes, not for non-human being, not for robots, and not for electronic personalities... for human... only...

I’m inclined to say “any hope of improvement” is a function of cultural evolution driven by the science of human rights:

http://www.bookdaily.com/book/3341166/scientific-proof-of-our-unalienable-rights-a-road-to-utopia

I have worked in the Philippines, Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana and El Salvador; I live in Michigan. Human Rights advances seem as elusive today as was true 50 years ago and with social media we see even more clearly, and constantly, how far we have to go. Matters of race, ethnicity, gender roles and definition, economic stratification, child trafficking, access to decent water, housing, health care, education, sanitation, and freedom from fear all present us with issues that cry out for intervention and social evolution. But such cries seem obscured by political, economic, and other classes of greed and contempt for those without power or social status.

It's getting worse. Once AI gets better, majority people's value decreased and worse than a robot. Who will protect those people's rights?

Until God's madness destroys the world that happened many times ago, before our current culture. Everything resets to be zero.

I hope we don't need to reboot the Planet.

Let's cross fingers and pray to see if there is a chance to turn everything better.

"Quand l’ordre social ne permet pas la mise en œuvre des droits, c’est l’ordre qu’il faut changer, pas les droits!" C'est ainsi que le 'Rapport sur l'état des DH au Québec et au Canada' (Ligue des droits et libertés, -Québec-) résumait la situation en juin 2013, se référant directement à l'article 28 de la DUDH.

"Ce ne sont pas les droits qui doivent reculer, ce sont: la marchandisation de la vie, l’instrumentalisation de la nature et des êtres humains ainsi que les menaces à l’avenir des générations futures, tous des facteurs de reculs des droits." Cela exige de remettre en question l’ordre actuel en faisant pression sur l'État devenu à travers le monde un agent de violation des DH et non plus de leur défense et de leur protection. L'État doit ré-articuler sa raison d’être, l’intérêt général et public et non l'intérêt privé.

Aussi longtemps que l'ordre social et international -art. 28- sera sous la domination d'intérêts privés, le vivre ensemble en collectivités sur la planète demeurera gravement menacé, sans parler de la planète elle-même...

voir: http://liguedesdroits.ca/wp-content/fichiers/rappot-droits-humains-web.pdf

@Denis ,

D’accord sur toute la ligne.