Eric Posner’s article in the Guardian “The case against human rights” makes many interesting points about problems involved with International Human Rights Law, but on the whole, his logic is flimsy. For example, Posner begins by pointing out the fact that while we have all these different human rights treaties, human rights violations are more widespread than ever. His framing is designed to push the reader into thinking that the global push towards human rights since the founding of the UN has been a failure. It’s a nice writer’s trick, but hardly an interesting argument. Most certainly there are still repressive governments in the world. Most certainly many societies are still rife with gender inequality, violence, and other forms of bigotry.
