The Right to Life and the Right to Live

The violations of fundamental human rights - especially the right to life and the right to live in many parts of the world have moved the author to write this work. The right to life and the right to live are basic natural values, yet they are neither adequately recognized nor universally enjoyed by all men and women. Innocent persons are killed. The world has enough space to accomodate everybody, yet many people are deprived of dwelling places. Many people starve to death because they have nothing to eat, yet natural resources are wasted in various ways. Human rights represent the claims, demands and needs of men and women as persons, the respect and guarantee of which contribute to self-realization. They contain principles for a general attitude, and for a normative determination of reality both for the individual and for the society at large. In this work, therefore, an human rights ethic for international solidarity is proposed which establishes that on the basis of human rights, norms for right, moral actions are discoverable. A reorientation and the reawakening of moral conciousness as regards respect for human rights and their guarantee envisaged in this book are discussed within the perimeter of the right to life and the right to live.