Royal Irish Academy Discourse: ‘International Human Rights and Democratic Public Ethics’ by Professor Richard Bellamy
University of Limerick, 6 June 2014 at 18:00
We are pleased to invite you to attend a Royal Irish Academy Discourse by Professor Richard Bellamy (European University Institute), with a response by the President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins, entitled ‘International Human Rights and Democratic Public Ethics’. This Discourse will take place in the Graduate Entry Medical School Lecture Theatre at the University of Limerick, on 6 June at 18:00. This event is being held under the auspices of the President of Ireland Ethics Initiative and in association with the Limerick City of Culture 2014.
Attendance is free but early booking is advised.
Abstract: The requirement that governments uphold human rights has often been seen as a guarantee of basic ethical standards within the public administration of a country. However, even if there is broad agreement at a rather abstract level about the importance of certain rights, why they are important, how they relate to each other and to specific cases, and what policies might best further them are often matters of profound disagreement. When politicians voice such disagreements - especially, but not only, when they disagree with the judgments on rights voiced by judges - their pronouncements are often treated with suspicion as reflecting a self–interested desire to escape any constraints on their power. While this suspicion may often be well founded, it is also the case that such disagreements often mirror not only those among judges but also among philosophers and the broader public. Indeed, one of the rationales for democracy is precisely to provide a means for legitimately resolving such disagreements. This fact poses a problem when courts and particularly international courts, such as the European Court of Human Rights, appear to overrule the views of democratically elected governments. This lecture attempts to resolve this dilemma. It takes the tensions between rights and democracy seriously, and suggests a way by which international courts can perform an important task in reminding citizens and their elected governments to take rights seriously while nevertheless remaining under democratic control and giving legislatures and ultimately the people the last word on rights.