Our Approach

At Thirdway, we take a far broader approach to human rights than the extremely myopic one that currently prevails in the international community. Instead of prioritizing the civil and political rights of the first generation and subordinating the remainder, we believe that a holistic approach is appropriate.  In particular, we reject the notion of a human rights ‘hierarchy,’ and instead endorse the proclamation of the International Conference on Human Rights in Tehran of 1968.  It states that because human rights and fundamental freedoms are indivisible and that the full realization of civil and political rights cannot be achieved without the enjoyment of economic, social, and cultural rights. Human progress crucially depends upon the international community’s recognition that the full range of human rights are indivisible.
 
We see that lasting progress in the implementation of human rights depends upon sound and effective national and international policies for economic and social development. This recognition includes the thought that political freedom is but one type of freedom, and that to genuinely secure the good life, human beings require in addition economic, social, and cultural freedoms.
 
Human Rights as seen by Thirdway

• Human Rights belong to people simply because they are human.
• Human Rights do not have to be bought, merited, or inherited. They are inalienable in the sense that no one has the right to deprive another's rights for any reason
• Human Rights call upon states and governments to protect vulnerable individuals and groups against oppression.
• Human Rights set standards for what governments must do for their citizens, and what they must not do to their citizens.
• It must be observed that people possess rights even in the absence of positive laws which recognize and protect them.