Human Rights in the Modern World: Change of Eras

Abstract

The threats and risks that affect the content of human rights activities in modern conditions are examined. The main threats are outlined: linguistic inflation of the legal category “human rights”; lack of clear responses to global challenges from traditional international institutions; activism of human rights non-governmental organizations that has degenerated into a declared monopoly; different understanding of human rights on the part of representatives of legal science and human rights organizations; inflated expectations from the activities of international, both interstate and non-governmental organizations; the use of human rights as a pretext for inciting conflict. The process of finding an updated vision of human rights is complicated not only by the acceleration of social processes, but also by the acceleration of the introduction of experimental developments on sensitive issues for which an ethical consensus has not been developed. The indication of a change of “eras” in the human rights system is also associated with the fact that for the first time in its history, humanity has faced a possible change in human nature, the establishment of control over its biological essence. This is maximally facilitated by the synergy of biomedical and digital technologies, expressed in the convergence of four elements – nanotechnology (Nano), biotechnology (Bio), information technology (Info) and cognitive science (Cogno). The risks of developing convergent technologies are identified: transformation of the basic principles of law; expansion of constitutional legal personality and the extension of human rights to other subjects; technological determinism. It is noted that not only the rights themselves are being transformed, global changes are taking place in how and by whom human rights are violated, and how to protect them in the conditions of the new reality.