Human Rights Transformed

Human rights have traditionally been understood as protecting individual freedom against intrusion by the State. This book argues instead that human rights are based on a far richer view of freedom, going beyond absence of coercion and focussing on the ability to exercise such freedom. Instead of merely restraining the State, human rights must create positive duties. Drawing on comparative experience from India, South Africa, the ECHR, the EU, Canada and the US, this book aims to create a theoretical and applied framework for understanding positive human rights duties.