The Poetry of Rights

Human rights are not simply rights, they are also quintessentially human; and the human experience is filled with emotion. This essay argues that human rights can be understood as emanating from emotions that we are perceived to share. Art in general and poetry in particular can provide a great service in helping us explore and bring these emotions to the fore, thereby reinforcing the distinctively human character of human rights, while also enabling us to understand them as something more than moral or legal constructs. The regulatory, legal, facet of human rights is a fundamental aspect of democratic justice systems. But so is the personal, emotional, facet, which prompts us to celebrate, communicate, debate and re-imagine the nature and content of human rights -within and beyond the courtroom- in a more empathetic and inclusive manner, with reference to the emotions that underpin them.