04 March 2010
The Church of England has warned that basic human rights cannot be made contingent on the exercise of responsibilities. In a response to the Ministry of Justice Green Paper on Rights and Responsibilities, the Mission and Public Affairs Council argues that connecting rights too closely with responsibilities risks undermining the inalienable nature of fundamental human rights.
Some less fundamental rights - perhaps better understood as entitlements - may follow from the exercise of social responsibility, the response argues, but the Green Paper does not give enough emphasis to the ways in which responsibilities are owed primarily to other persons, groups and communities and not always to the state.
While the Church of England welcomes a wide ranging discussion of rights and responsibilities, it does not believe that the Green Paper is sufficiently nuanced on these and other points to be an adequate basis for a Bill of Rights and Responsibilities.
The response in full.