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Human Rights: The 'Commons' and the Collective

Many centuries ago, capitalism arose in agrarian England as the economic motive and competitiveness replaced traditional values in the ‘enclosure movements’. The “enclosures” provided the most famous redefinition of property rights: they eliminated the commons with no regard for human rights. Philosopher John Locke defended the right to property above all, although he predicated his defense upon ensuring that enough would be left to be held in common. Through Locke’s friendship with Jefferson, the Lockean arguments filtered into the American declaration of independence.But these enclosure movements, brutal though they were in their effects against people, only started what eventually came to be known as the “Tragedy of the Commons”. What we encounter today, in the primacy of the economic movement over and above human rights, including the right to a safe and healthy habitat, is the final enclosure movement: it is once again mostly the poor and dispossessed of the world who are shut out of the natural global commons.Yet, despite the proliferation of human rights instruments in law, these focus on individuals rather than the collective. The “common good” is not often pursued in what Sand terms the present “lawless” world. The few international legal instruments that address the rights of the collective, are often not conducive to their good: for instance the Right to Development is implemented in ways that benefit multinational corporations, rather than the affected local communities.Some recent cases however, as well as some new proposed Framework Conventions (e.g. to the Right to Health, or the Rights of Environmentally Displaced Persons) offer some hope for future developments of the protection of basic collective human rights.